International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei has asked Iran to respond swiftly to the offer made by the US, France and Russia to process it’s enriched uranium to fuel abroad. “This is a unique and fleeting opportunity to reverse course from confrontation to cooperation and should, therefore, not be missed,” he said on Monday at the UN General Assembly.

In his last address before stepping down as IAEA chief, ElBaradei asked the international community to stick to the path of multilateral dialogue and not follow the road which had led to a “senseless tragedy” in Iraq.

ElBaradei regretted that the Iraq war happened on a “false pretext”. “I will always lament the fact that the tragic war was launched in Iraq that has cost the lives of thousands,” he said. About North Korea, he said that since IAEA reported the matter, the nation had moved from having plutonium to acquiring nuclear programmes.