IAEA meeting focuses on nuclear-free Middle East

A Middle East free of nuclear weapons is a major topic on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of directors meeting that started in Vienna on Monday.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano is due to deliver a statement on the relevant developments since that last board meeting in June.
In the five-day penultimate meeting this year, the IAEA's 35-nation board will discuss a host of topics, primarily a report by the IAEA chief on the nuclear activities by North Korea, Iran, and Syria since they started implementation of the Safeguards Agreements with the Agency, based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The report was simultaneously submitted to the IAEA and the UNSC.
In this last report, Amano stressed that the IAEA still cannot confirm that Iran does not have secret nuclear supplies or activities. Therefore, it cannot decide for sure that all the nuclear materials in Iran are for peaceful purposes.
He added that Tehran had only carried out three of the five transparency steps it had agreed to implement by August 25, and started negotiations with the IAEA regarding the other two.
The IAEA board meeting will also discuss a report by Amano on arrangements of international cooperation to boost nuclear and radiation safety and discarding nuclear waste, in addition to a report on fostering protection against what is referred to as nuclear terrorism, amid fears worldwide that terrorists could have access to nuclear weapons.