IAEA chief reaffirms need for dialogue to solve Iran nuclear impasse

Outgoing head of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad ElBaradei here Friday reiterated need for diplomacy to resolve dispute over Iran's nuclear program rather than issuing military and sanction threats.

Speaking at Berlin's prestigious Humboldt University, the IAEA chief said, "I continue to advocate that we need to take one step after the other and not just say we cannot speak to our adversary and we can only limit ourselves to applying sanctions and we cannot engage in a dialogue and we can threaten to use force."
ElBaradei warned that having no dialogue with Iran would be "a bridge to nowhere."
He quoted the late German chancellor Willy Brandt as saying that "small steps are better than no steps at all."
Earlier in the day, ElBaradei reaffirmed his strong opposition to western sanctions against Tehran, branding it a "dead-end street."
"Sanctions will only make things much worse and it will make the country (Iran) more hawkish," he told the media representatives in the German capital.

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