Official Denies AP Report on Iran-IAEA Document
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) dismissed a report by the Associated Press about a confidential agreement that Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are going to sign.
The AP alleged in a report on August 19 that it has seen a draft document labeled "separate arrangement II", a confidential agreement to be signed between Iran and the IAEA that will allow Tehran to use its own inspectors to investigate a site it has been accused of using to develop nuclear arms.
“The draft is unsigned but the proposed signatory for Iran is listed as Ali Hoseini Tash, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council for Strategic Affairs. That reflects the significance Tehran attaches to the agreement,” the AP claimed.
In reaction, Mr. Hosseini Tash denied the claims on Sunday, saying, “There is no agreement signed between deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council for strategic affairs and the Agency (IAEA), and such issue is basically outside the purview of the Supreme National Security Council secretariat.”
Back on July 14, Iran and the IAEA signed a roadmap to clarify the outstanding past and present issues regarding Tehran’s nuclear program. According to the document, the IAEA will review the information given by Iran by September 15, 2015, and will submit to Iran questions on any possible ambiguities regarding such information.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14 finalized the text of a lasting deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The IAEA has been given the role of verifying Iran’s commitments under the deal.