Iran hopes IAEA chief to amend approach to Iran's nuclear program

TEHRAN, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said Tuesday that Iran hopes the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano to amend his approach toward Iran's nuclear program, the local satellite Press TV reported.

The IAEA chief on Monday accused Iran of not sufficiently cooperating with an investigation into its nuclear activities.

"The agency continues... to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary cooperation," Amano told an IAEA board of governors.

"We expected Mr. Amano to examine and adopt a position on the ( Iranian) nuclear issue in an unbiased way, but unfortunately and in contradiction with what he had said before, we did not see an unbiased position," Salehi said.

Amano had taken sides against Iran, and "We hope that he will change his approach," Salehi was quoted as saying.

The United States and its Western allies have been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of a civilian program. Iran has denied the accusation and stressed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.