Sunday, November 20 2005 09:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Giving yet another clean chit to Pakistan, the United States has said it does not need to question nuclear scientist A Q Khan in light of reports that the father of Pakistan's atomic programme helped Iran in enriching Uranium.

When asked if in the context of the latest statements of Teheran on Uranium conversion, it was necessary to get back to Khan and question him afresh, state department acting spokesperson Adam Ereli said, "I wouldn't make that connection."

"Obviously we continue to, tie up loose ends on the A Q Khan issue but we've...Pretty much gotten to the bottom of it, although obviously it's an issue that continues to be of interest to us," he said.

"And what we need to see with regard to Iran, which is different from the A Q Khan investigation, is a complete and transparent accounting from Iran about its nuclear programme which we haven't gotten," Ereli remarked.

The Spokesman was asked why Washington would not take the Pakistan route given its 'significantly better' relations with that country than that of Iran and find out the full scheme of things.

"In our dealings with Pakistan, we are satisfied with the kind of cooperation and the kind of information sharing we've gotten, but there's another side to this and that side is the Iranian side, which has information, which is engaged in activities that only Iran can account for and that's why it's important that they be responsive to what the IAEA is asking of them," Ereli replied.