Photo Gallery The World's Nuclear Police Chief
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, has shown little desire to cooperate with Amano. The new IAEA director general told SPIEGEL that "we still don't have answers to all of our questions, which is why we make it clear that Tehran has to cooperate with us more effectively."
The international community is concerned that Iran is close to being able to build a nuclear weapon. The US diplomatic dispatches released in December by WikiLeaks showed clearly that Iran's Arab neighbors are also worried about an atomic Iran and have little trust in Ahmadinejad and the country's leadership in Tehran.
North Korea is another problem country for the IAEA. Pyongyang tested atomic weapons in both 2006 and 2008. But the country expelled IAEA inspectors in 2009, and since then, the international community has received no direct information about the country's nuclear program.
In his interview with SPIEGEL, Amano said: "I come from the country onto which two atomic bombs were dropped. I will do everything possible to prevent a recurrence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That's why I will be extremely vigilant."
