Envoy Deplores IAEA Report for Ignoring Iran’s Close Cooperation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The International Atomic Energy Agency’s most recent report on Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has failed to reflect Tehran's close cooperation with the UN nuclear agency, an Iranian ambassador to Vienna said.
In remarks on Monday, Iran's permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, Mohammad Reza Ghaebi, said the IAEA Director-General's report does not reflect Iran's extensive cooperation with the IAEA.
“The report concludes exactly what the Director-General presented to the European Parliament before the third round of technical talks, even before the end of the steps set out in the joint statement,” he said.
His comments came after the IAEA claimed that it estimated Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium had grown to more than 18 times the limit laid down in the 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers.
The limit in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was set at 300 kg (660 pounds) of a specific compound, the equivalent of 202.8 kg of uranium.
The report by Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the UN nuclear agency, also claimed that Iran was continuing its enrichment of uranium to levels higher than the 3.67 percent limit in the landmark accord.
Iran's permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations said the report, by putting aside the detailed, reasoned and technical arguments put forward by the Iranian side and unfairly calling them invalid, continues to rely on the agency's predetermined assumptions and presents its one-sided conclusion accordingly.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers this approach unconstructive and destructive to the close relations and ongoing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,” Ghaebi noted. “And believes that the IAEA should realize the ruinous consequences of publishing such one-sided reports, which could provide the necessary excuse for opponents of Iran-IAEA relations as well as the sworn critics of the revival of the JCPOA.”
In a separate report also issued on Monday, the IAEA claimed it still had questions which were "not clarified" regarding previous undeclared nuclear material at three Iranian sites.
The report said Iran has offered the explanation of an "act of sabotage by a third party to contaminate" the sites, but added no proof had been provided to corroborate this.
Pointing to the IAEA’s second report, Ghaebi said the entire peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic have been carried out within the framework of the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and in accordance with the legal compensatory measures in the law adopted by the Iranian Parliament following the suspension of Iran's nuclear obligations due to non-fulfillment of obligations by other parties, Press TV reported.
“Therefore, the Agency will not gain access to the memory information of its deployed cameras and other information in this regard until an agreement is reached for the revival of the JCPOA,” Ghaebi underlined.
The senior diplomat said the Islamic Republic has repeatedly warned the IAEA’s officials of the need to refrain from disclosing detailed information on the country’s nuclear activities based on the importance of the principle of confidentiality with regard to the IAEA regulations, but the issue has not received serious attention from the Agency.
