TEHRAN - IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei’s report on Iran’s nuclear activities shows that there is still hope that the International Atomic Energy Agency will maintain its independence, international affairs expert Alireza Davari said here on Saturday.

In an internal report referred to the IAEA Board of Governors, ElBaradei said on Thursday that Iran has cooperated with IAEA inspectors to settle the outstanding issues in its nuclear program and pointed out that the agreement on an action plan, reached by Tehran and the IAEA on August 21, was “a significant step forward.”
Davari told the Mehr News Agency that the new report is clear for the most part, while the previous ones were “two-edged and ambiguous”.
The report proves that Iran has made significant progress in gaining the confidence of the international community, he said, adding, “The remaining issues between Iran and the agency have been defined clearly and thoroughly.”
Tehran’s full cooperation with the IAEA and the recent slowdown in uranium enrichment, which has been confirmed by the agency, have made it more difficult for the U.S. and its allies to impose new sanctions on Iran, Davari noted.
He went on to say that the Islamic Republic regards the IAEA as the body authorized to resolve the standoff and supports its efforts to settle the outstanding issues in regard to the country’s nuclear program.
He expressed appreciation for the agency’s legal and technical approach toward the nuclear issue and said that Iran’s unprecedented cooperation with the agency proves that the country’s nuclear program is transparent.
In a separate interview with MNA, Lotfollah Foruzandeh, the deputy chairman of the Association of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution, said that ElBaradei’s report proves that Iran’s stance in the nuclear issue is legitimate.
“The efforts of the hegemonic powers in regard to Iran’s nuclear issue have reached a dead end,” he said.
Washington is obviously seeking a new round of sanctions on Iran, but new resolutions would depend on the “attitude and analysis” of China, Russia, and the European Union, he observed.
Mojtaba Hamedani of the Islamic Coalition Party stated that there are no more ambiguities in ElBaradei’s recent report.
The report “proves the legitimacy of Iran’s stance, and it can prepare the ground for the return of the nuclear dossier to the IAEA from the UN Security Council,” he added.
The fact that the serious issue of plutonium, which has been the West’s most important pretext in its accusations that Iran’s nuclear program is for military purposes, has been resolved can be a turning point in the cooperation between Tehran and the agency, Hamedani noted.
The Iranian nuclear issue will also be on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors and the IAEA general assembly, which is to be held from September 10 to 21.
---------Iran’s case should be returned to IAEA
Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that Iran’s nuclear dossier should be returned to the nuclear agency, IRNA reported.
“As IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei’s report mentions, the two sides have agreed on a suitable framework. The report briefly but explicitly and transparently highlights the point… of the remarkable progress in Iran’s resolve to continue its peaceful nuclear activities and expand relations with the agency.
“The continuation of such measures would further encourage public opinion in many countries to think of the return of Iran’s case to the Board of Governors,” Mottaki said at a joint press conference with his Ghanaian counterpart Nana Dankwa Akuffo-Addo.
Mottaki stated that there might be certain parties that might be happy with such cooperation, but these are the same countries which had promised to end the war in Iraq and bring democracy to Iraqis in three months.
However, international affairs expert Mehdi Motaharnia told MNA that ElBaradei’s report “is not a determining factor in the process of Iran’s nuclear dossier.”
Various factors influence Iran’s nuclear issue and therefore it cannot be reviewed by analyzing only one of the factors, he said.
The Iran-U.S. relationship is one of the main factors in the nuclear dossier, he stated, adding that the United States’ problem is not about whether Iran obtains nuclear technology but their problem is with the fact that Iran is assuming a higher profile in the region