Jordan will be 'model for peaceful nuclear energy'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The UN nuclear watchdog chief urged Iran on Sunday to be "transparent" in its nuclear program and other countries not to resort to military action over Teheran's nuclear standoff. Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, is in Jordan on the last leg of a three-nation regional tour that comes as several Mideast countries have said they plan to pursue nuclear energy, a development seen as aimed at countering Iran's own disputed nuclear ambitions. "We hope that Iran will cooperate with us, using enough transparency, so that we can assert that it's nuclear program is dedicated for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei said after giving his agency's blessing to Jordan's plans for acquiring a peaceful nuclear energy program. "We still have plenty of time to solve the problem peacefully, and there's no way to have that except through dialogue," he said, according to the official Petra news agency.