20% of IAEA Inspections Carried Out in Iran: Envoy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Kazem Gharibabadi, highlighted the close cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying 20 percent of the agency’s inspections are carried out in Iran.
Following an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA on Thursday night, Gharibabadi wrote in a thread of tweets that the “special meeting of the Board could have been dedicated to important disarmament and non-proliferation issues. Professionally speaking, the two issues on today’s agenda, didn't enjoy any urgency.”
“Iran is cooperating with the Agency in 3 main areas, namely JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), CSA (comprehensive safeguards agreements) and AP (Additional Protocol),” he wrote, adding, “We always engage constructively to address possible issues or questions, and this is an ongoing and continuing process with no special immediacy or concern attached.”
“I emphasized in the BoG that Iran receives around 20 percent of the Agency’s total inspections and on average 3 inspectors are present in Iran each day,” the diplomat went on to say.
“This level of cooperation should be recognized and appreciated, and the Agency and some countries should avoid aggrandizing routine issues between Iran and Agency,” he added.
Iran on Wednesday took the 4th step in reducing its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in reaction to the continued failure of the European parties to meet their obligations to the agreement.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.
Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.
The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.
