IAEA not the place to debate Israel's nuclear status: US
The International Atomic Energy Agency is not the forum to discuss Israel's possible accession to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a senior US official said Wednesday after
however the IAEA asked the Jewish state to join.
"Israel has fully cooperated with the IAEA," and "we believe there is really no basis for a debate at the IAEA," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, adding that the issue had been discussed at the NPT Review Conference in the spring, and that a conference on a nuclear-free Middle East was set for 2012.
The IAEA revealed on September 3 that UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano traveled to Jerusalem last month to invite Israel to join the NPT.Amano, in the IAEA report, said he conveyed to top Israeli officials the IAEA general conference's "concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities and invited Israel to consider acceding to the NPT and placing all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards."
Crowley said Washington believed such an IAEA step was unnecessary."We certainly agree that it has the potential, just as the Goldstone report did a year ago, to interrupt the progress that we think is possible now that we're back at direct negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinians, Crowley said.
