TOKYO (AFP) - The UN nuclear watchdog is making "good progress" in its verification work in Iran but cannot yet say whether Tehran has diverted sensitive technology to weapons production, the agency chief said.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the agency's job was to make sure that assurances from Iranian leaders are "reflected on the ground".
"We are still in the verification process in Iran. We are making good progress there; we have not seen materials diverted towards nuclear weapons,"
he told an audience of some 200 at the UN University in Tokyo.
"However, we have not yet completed our job to be able to say that no undeclared activities exist in Iran," he said after delivering a speech on nuclear non-proliferation.
The IAEA board passed a resolution on September 18 calling on Iran to immediately widen a suspension of enrichment to include all uranium enrichment-related activities -- such as making centrifuges, converting yellowcake into UF6 feed gas and constructing a heavy water reactor.
Iran, facing a November 25 deadline, risks being referred to the UN Security Council if it fails to comply.
Iranian officials said Wednesday they would not bow to the demand for total suspension and were ready for confrontation.
The IAEA chief in the speech urged an eventual total ban on nuclear weapons which should one day be "perceived like genocide".
He urged existing nuclear powers to demonstrate their leadership on non-proliferation.
"If the weapons states would like to have more authority to be able to push for non-proliferation, they have to show themselves that they are taking very seriously their commitment under the non-proliferation treaty," he said.
"You cannot continue to have a cigarette dangling from your mouth and ask everybody else not to smoke."
ElBaradei said the world needed an alternative system that does not depend on nuclear weapons, with collective security rooted in the UN Security Council.
But he acknowledged the UN system has also had problems.
"Collective security has not been working very well (under the UN system) for a variety of reasons," he said.
He said the United Nations had insufficient resources, with the Security Council lacking troops.
"The Security Council has not been very effective in dealing with preventive diplomacy or even enforcement measures," he said, noting that sanctions on Iraq had added misery to its people.
The international community needs to think of "smart sanctions ... that can target those who are in power and not the helpless people", he said.
ElBaradei told a news conference later Friday that "the international community should listen to us more carefully in the future" after a US report found Saddam Hussein was not actively pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
UN arms inspectors who found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction left Baghdad shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
ElBaradei was on a four-day visit to Japan. He leaves Saturday after talks with senior Japanese officials.