Vienna - Yukiya Amano, the designated new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Friday Iran was obliged to comply with Security Council resolutions calling on it to halt its nuclear programme. The Japanese diplomat spoke to reporters after IAEA member countries in Vienna unanimously confirmed him as successor Mohamed ElBaradei, who is to retire as director general in November after 12 years in office.
Talking about Iran's contentious nuclear programme and the United Nations' sanctions imposed on Tehran, Amano said that "the (IAEA) member states, including Iran, are under obligation to implement the Security Council's resolutions."
The current Japanese ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna said he would so his "utmost" to see to it that Iran's nuclear inspection agreements with the IAEA would be implemented.
Iran's ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh promised his country would fully cooperate with the future chief of the nuclear watchdog organization.
Amano on Thursday narrowly won a run-off vote against South African diplomat Abdul Samad Minty, which exposed a rift between developing countries strongly opposing Amano and industrialized countries backing him.
On Friday, developing countries grouped in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 put their reservations aside and expressed their support for Amano, 62, who is seen as closely aligned with the United States.
"I would like to reflect the interests of all the countries, all the regions, and all the groups," Amano told reporters.
"The director general of the agency is and independent person," Amano said, "and I will continue to be independent from any group, any region."
Minty congratulated Amano, and offered his country's support: "Our future objective is to assist in fostering a co-operative spirit and to focus on what unites us, namely; creating a better life for all free from the threat of the use of nuclear weapons."
Touching on the North Korea's nuclear arms programme that has recently triggered UN sanctions, Amano called for the resumption of multiparty talks, "because only dialogue is a way for a solution."
Meanwhile, the Japanese government put high hopes in the next IAEA leader.
"We hope that Amano would tackle the nuclear issues in the areas of non-proliferation and disarmament," top government spokesman Takeo Kawamura said in Tokyo.
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier congratulated Amano and wished him success in dealing with the challenges faced by the IAEA in relation to nuclear nonproliferation and other issues.
