Israel urged to open up atomic program

U.N. nuclear watchdog asks Israel to join global anti-nuclear arms pact

VIENNA — The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has invited Israel to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact and to place all its atomic facilities under his agency's inspections, an IAEA report said on Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said Director General Yukiya Amano met with Israeli leaders during a visit to Israel last month to discuss an Arab-led push for the Jewish state to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

By staying outside the treaty, Israel has maintained secrecy over a program widely believed to have yielded the Middle East's only atomic arsenal — seen as an irritant and threat among its neighbors.

The issueis expected to be debated again at IAEA board and general assembly meetings later this month in Vienna.

Last year, Arab countries backed by Iran won narrow backing for a non-binding assembly resolution urging Israel to join the NPT and asking Amano to consult "concerned states" on how to achieve this and report back to this month's meeting.

The IAEA report said Amano during his visit to Israel had conveyed the assembly's concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities and "invited Israel to consider to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards", as requested by last year's resolution.

Israel has conditioned its joining the NPT on comprehensive Middle East peace — something unlikely when powers like Iran refuse to recognize the Jewish state.