Iran’s Nuclear Rights Inalienable: AEOI Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Iran’s right to access peaceful nuclear technology as a member state of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) cannot be ignored.
“Some rights… cannot be given or taken from you. As we have joined the NPT, we are naturally entitled to the nuclear rights,” Behrouz Kamalvandi said Monday while addressing a forum here in Tehran titled “Where Is the Geneva Agreement Heading?”
He underscored that there is no need for Iran to try to have others recognize its right of nuclear enrichment because it is the country’s incontrovertible right.
Asked about the Geneva Deal between Iran and the sextet of world powers and what will happen if the other side fails to fulfill its commitments under the deal, Kamalvandi, who also serves as the AEOI’s strategic deputy, stated that Iran could reverse its course and return everything to its previous state if that would be the case.
“Rest assured that we move forward and act in such a way politically, technically and legally, that we will not lose anything,” he told participants.
In November 2013, Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, France, Britain and China plus Germany), signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action), the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.
The breakthrough deal, which has come into effect since January 20, also stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
The two sides wrapped up their latest round of high-level nuclear talks in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on April 9.
There will be a fresh round of high-level talks between Iran and the sextet beginning on May 13 in Vienna.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister and the country's chief nuclear negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the UN atomic energy agency has acknowledged that Tehran is committed to its agreements with the world powers, adding that now Tehran expects reciprocal move by the other side.
“As IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has once again confirmed, we're keeping our pledges (and) intend to continue doing so, expecting reciprocity in this regard,” Zarif said on his Twitter page.
