IAEA Urged to Adopt Realistic Approach Toward JCPOA

A top Iranian diplomat censured the International Atomic Energy Agency for addressing questions related to the country's nuclear activities based on claims by regimes hostile to Tehran, calling for a more realistic approach by the global watchdog.
"I advise the agency to be more realistic in this regard, refer to reliable documents, take note of Iran’s high-level cooperation, and avoid posing questions based on claims by the United States and the Zionist regime," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a regular press briefing on Monday, IRNA reported.
The IAEA Board of Governors is currently meeting in Vienna, Austria, to discuss issues, including Iran's compliance with its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the agency is policing.
The meeting will also discuss IAEA's concerns about Iran's refusal to allow access to two locations where it suspects there had been undeclared activities and materials in the early 2000s. 
"I note with serious concern that, for over four months, Iran has denied us access to two locations and that, for almost a year, it has not engaged in substantive discussions to clarify our questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said at the virtual meeting on Friday. 
He added that this is adversely affecting the UN agency's ability to resolve the questions and to provide credible assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities at these locations in Iran.
Grossi called on Iran "to cooperate immediately and fully with the agency, including by providing prompt access to the locations specified by us".
The decision to inspect those sites was based at least in part on a trove of documents Israel claimed its intelligence agents seized in Iran, according to diplomats who follow IAEA developments.

Unconstructive Tack  

Mousavi said Iran does not accept mere claims by a third party and information supplied informally and illegally as evidence.
"We do not see it as a constructive approach by the agency," he said.
He urged IAEA to maintain its complete impartiality in dealing with specialized issues. 
"IAEA reports need to be well documented and [the information] need to have reached them from legal and formal channels."
Iran has scaled back its compliance with JCPOA as per the deal's provisions in response to the US exit and reimposition of sanctions, as well as the other parties' failure to protect its rights. 
It remained open about the moves and continued to allow IAEA inspectors access to facilities to monitor the operations, but has denied access to the two locations, arguing that the source of information was unreliable and the agency's case for going there was too flimsy.
Iran's mission to IAEA in Vienna said at the time that "the Islamic Republic of Iran does not want to set a bad precedence by giving legitimacy to such alleged information in a statement".
"We have declared to the agency that although we kept our cooperation, even when reducing our [JCPOA] compliance … this cooperation will face problems if the agency continues to adopt such an approach," Mousavi said. 
He hoped that IAEA and members of its board will not come under the influence of the US and Israel, and that the meeting will deliver a result that would help preserve international peace and security. 
"Naturally, if an unconstructive decision is made, the Islamic Republic would show an appropriate reaction and they can probably guess what that [reaction] would be," he said, without giving details about Iran's possible response.