Iran agrees to tougher IAEA nuclear checks

In an interview with the state-run Iran newspaper, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Akbar Salehi said he hoped Tehran would take measures to satisfy international concerns about its nuclear ambitions before the IAEA's next board of governor's meeting in September.

Asked whether Iran should agree to international demands it sign up to the Additional Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- to allow more intrusive, short-notice inspections of its nuclear sites -- Salehi said:

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"Right now, we are in a situation where we can use the Additional Protocol as a tool for solving the problems which have been created and to close the politicized case of our nuclear activities.

"With a positive attitude toward the Additional Protocol, we can take necessary advantage of it."

UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA in June reported a number of failures by Iran to declare its nuclear activities and is scheduled to report again on Iran in September.

Iran denies any intention to build nuclear weapons and insists its nuclear program is solely geared to electricity generation.

Salehi said he was hopeful that senior officials in Tehran would adopt a "proper and expedient policy" during the next month, which would allow Iran "to leave behind this problem."

Some hard-line commentators in Iran have said signing the Additional Protocol would be an insult to Iran's sovereignty and suggested Tehran should instead pull out of the NPT altogether.

But Salehi noted that by pulling out of the NPT, North Korea had placed itself "in a complicated situation."

"Not being actively present in international organizations or withdrawing from these organizations means that you want to dismiss yourself from the international community or confront the whole community which is not expedient for a country like Iran," he said.