Don’t Bomb Iran

This phrase has frequently appeared in media reports, and in IAEA reports: for example the February 4 2006 IAEA resolution GOV/2006/13 . However, it is hard to imagine any country where the IAEA could conclude this logically - proving a negative is very hard. They could not say this about Japan or South Korea for example.

Virtually the same phrase was used by the IAEA about Iraq: in July 1998 Russia suggested that the Iraq should be considered to have disarmed and deadly sanctions should be lifted, but the US rejected this on the basis of an IAEA report which said:
“While no indications of the current existence of proscribed equipment or materials in Iraq have been found…[the IAEA cannot] provide absolute assurance of the absence of readily concealable items, such as components of centrifuge machines or copies of weapon-related documentation.”

There are probably other, later examples of IAEA being unable to guarantee anything in Iraq.