Many countries in the Mideast have expressed interest in developing peaceful atomic energy programs in response to rising domestic energy consumption and possibly to counter Iran’s nuclear activities.

“All the Arab countries’ nuclear activities will be under agency safeguard systems, so I don’t see a reason why anybody should be concerned about … Arab countries using nuclear energy for power development,” Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters after meeting with Arab League chief Amr Moussa in Cairo.

The IAEA chief said Arab countries were not focused on the “sensitive” parts of the nuclear fuel cycle, which he argued should be under multinational control. (jpost)