Tehran 'dishonest over nuclear arms'

The US and other Western nations accused Iran yesterday of deceiving the world on nuclear arms, as the UN atomic agency passed a new resolution criticising Tehran's nuclear defiance.

Iran shot back that the West's allegations were based on fabricated intelligence fed to the International Atomic Energy Agency to try to discredit the Islamic Republic.

The unusually tough statements delivered to the IAEA's board by the US, and on behalf of Germany, Britain and France, drew heavily on a recent IAEA report that some alleged clandestine activities by Iran could not be designed for any other purpose than making nuclear arms. "It is no longer within the bounds of credulity to claim that Iran's nuclear activities are solely peaceful," said Glyn Davies, the chief US delegate to the IAEA. The German chief delegate, Ruediger Luedeking, said Iranian actions, "deepened disbelief in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme".