Take action against nuke proliferators

The UN atomic watchdog should focus on the distributors of nuclear technology as much as the recipients, like Iran, said foreign secretary Shyam Saran

"With respect to the Iran nuclear issue, we welcome Iran's cooperation with IAEA in the accounting for previously undeclared activities," Saran told a conference in New Delhi on nuclear non-proliferation.

"... but it is important that remaining issues which involve Pakistan-based A.Q. Khan are satisfactorily clarified as well.

"We see no reason why there should be an insistence on personal interviews with Iranian scientists but an exception granted to a man who has been accused of running a global 'nuclear Wal-Mart'," he said.

Iran was put on notice last month by the IAEA, which warned the Islamic nation it would be hauled before the UN Security Council if it persisted with its uranium enrichment activities.

The United States suspects Iran is using its nascent nuclear power program to develop the capability to build nuclear weapons, a suspicion Tehran says is unfounded.