Tehran Asks Amano to Avoid Moving beyond IAEA Reports on Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran denounced remarks made by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tehran’s nuclear issue, and asked Yukiya Amano to avoid commenting on Iran-world powers talks beyond the framework of the IAEA's periodic reports.
“On various occasions, Mr. Amano raises some issues about the deal between Iran and Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) which seem that if the remarks are not made beyond the IAEA's monthly and seasonal reports, it will be better for both sides,” Behrouz Kamalvandi told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Tuesday.
The AEOI spokesman also downplayed Amano’s remarks that UN watchdog is unable to conclude that all nuclear materials in Iran are peaceful, and said that such comments by the UN nuclear agency chief are not something new and have previously been raised in the IAEA reports and Iran has responded to them accordingly.
Speaking at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington on Monday, Amano said the agency could not, at this time, establish whether the nuclear materials were not being used for military purposes.
“We continue to verify the non-divergence of nuclear material declared by Iran but we are still not in a position to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful purpose,” Amano said.
As regards Amano’s remarks about the Additional Protocol, Kamalvandi said Iran is not obliged to implement the protocol, because it should be adopted voluntarily.
The Additional Protocol substantially expands the IAEA's ability to check nuclear facilities by providing the agency with authority to visit any facility, declared or not, to investigate questions about or inconsistencies in a state's nuclear declarations.
States party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are not required to adopt an additional protocol, although the IAEA is urging all to do so.
Iran, a signatory of the NPT, voluntarily implemented the protocol between 2003 and 2005 --its parliament never ratified it-- but ceased to apply it after its nuclear case was sent to the United Nations Security Council.
