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Report prompts questions about Iran's nuclear program
(CNN) -- A news agency reported Friday that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors had found enriched uranium in samples taken in Iran, but the U.N. nuclear watchdog would say only that it is investigating "a number of unresolved issues" about the country's nuclear program. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said she could not comment "on the findings of ongoing safeguards inspections." A Reuters news agency report cited diplomats as saying IAEA inspectors found enriched uranium -- a key component in developing nuclear weapons -- in environmental samples taken in Iran. The IAEA said the inspection process is ongoing. It neither confirmed nor rejected Reuters' report. "Results of environmental sample analyses are being reviewed at the agency, and we expect to take more samples over the next few weeks," Fleming told CNN in an e-mail message. "Only the IAEA will be in a position to judge the significance of the analysis results in the context of our overall verification effort in Iran. "At this point, we are still in the middle of a complex inspection process in Iran in which we are investigating a number of unresolved issues." The next comprehensive report on the results of the inspections in Iran will likely be released on September 8 at a meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, she said. The Reuters report cited unnamed diplomats as saying the initial analyses showed enrichment levels possibly consistent with an attempt to make weapons-grade material. It quoted Khalil Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, as saying the IAEA "has not told Iran about this issue." "As soon as the agency takes a stance on this, then we will announce our stance," Mousavi was quoted as saying. Iran has been under international pressure to disclose full details about its nuclear program, which it insists is civilian in nature and intended to provide electrical power. The Iranian government has denied the nuclear program is intended to produce nuclear weapons. In June, the IAEA's 35-nation governing board criticized Iran for failing to report some of its nuclear material and facilities, raising concerns in the international community -- particularly in the United States -- about its nuclear ambitions.
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