Jordan's King Abdullah (R) meets International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei at the Royal
Palace in Amman April 15, 2007. (Xinhua Photo)
AMMAN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Visiting International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei called here
Sunday for the Middle East to be a nuclear-arms-free zone which includes Iran
and Israel.
"The Middle East should be a zone
free of weapons of mass destruction, a zone in which Israel and Iran are both
members," Elbaradei was quoted by a royal court statement as saying.
"This is the last chance to build security in the
Middle East based on trust and cooperation rather than on the possession of
nuclear arms," said ElBaradei, who is in Jordan on the last leg of a
three-nation regional tour which also took him to Saudi Arabia and Oman.
He said as "Arab countries have joined the
Non-Proliferation Treaty while Israel hasn't", there would be an "imbalance",
with Israel possessing a nuclear deterrent while Arab states committing
themselves to programs for peaceful uses.
"When a just and comprehensive peace is established
between the Arab states and Israel, it should be forged in parallel with a
security order based on wiping out all weapons of mass destruction."
He also urged Iran to be "transparent" in its nuclear
program.
"We hope that Iran will cooperate with us, using
enough transparency, so that we can assert that it's nuclear program is
dedicated for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei said.
"We still have plenty of time to solve the problem peacefully, and there's no
way to have that except through dialogue," he said, stressing that the
military solution is "unrealistic and disastrous."
Jordan's King Abdullah (L) welcomes International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei at the
Royal Palace in Amman April 15, 2007.(Xinhua Photo) Photo
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AMMAN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Mohamed
ElBaradei, visiting Director-General of the Vienna-based International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), promised on Sunday that his agency was ready to help
Jordan to benefit from nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
In this regard, the IAEA would dispatch a team to
Jordan next week to discuss the details of the nuclear project, said a statement
released by the royal court after a meeting between ElBaradei and Jordan's King
Abdullah II. Full story
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