IAEA Approach to Iran’s Safeguards Issues Censured

Iran’s top nuclear chief censured the approach adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general to Iran’s outstanding safeguards issues, saying he has no serious will to describe Iran’s answers as “convincing”. 
“The answers we have provided to the IAEA’s questions have been precise,” Mohammad Eslami said in an interview with Al Jazeera, according to ISNA. 
The United Nations nuclear watchdog claims it has found uranium particles at three undeclared sites which creates a problem in terms of Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the agency. 
Tehran and the Vienna-based organization agreed in March to settle this case by the quarterly meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors which started on Monday. 
Nevertheless, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in his report that Iran has not provided explanations that are technically credible in relation to the agency’s findings at three undeclared locations.
“We have to recognize that we have not been able to get the results we were expecting,” he later told reporters in Vienna.
He urged Iran to cooperate, adding that “we really need to get down to work and clarify these issues that have been outstanding for too long,” Grossi added.
Iranian officials said the report was “one-sided” and failed to reflect Iran’s extensive cooperation, unfairly calling its arguments invalid. 
Eslami said the agency cites reported information provided by Iran’s enemies, Israel on top of them, while failing to censure sabotage attacks against Iranian nuclear sites which Tehran blames on the very Zionist regime. 
Following Grossi’s report, France, Germany, Britain and the United States, prepared a draft resolution to rebuke Iran for failure to clarify on those issues and officially submitted it to the Board of Governors during the Tuesday session to be either adopted unopposed or put to a vote.
“The resolution which some countries at the Board of Governors are pushing for will not create a new situation,” Eslami said, calling on the agency to stop political influence tainting its system and adhere to regulations. 

Fabricated Information 

Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi said in a special note for IRNA that Iran has submitted all the required data and supporting documents to the agency, although its request is based on claimed and fake evidence in conflict with its statute and verification system and does not create an obligation for Iran to respond. 
“This level of cooperation by Iran bears testimony to its good will for transparency,” he said. 
He regretted, however, that the agency’s reliance on fabricated documents has resulted in its “unjust and invalid evaluation.” 
Grossi’s conclusion also matched his earlier assessment presented to the European parliament before the third phase of technical discussions were completed as per the March agreement, according to Kamalvandi. 
“In other words, the director general’s conclusion had been prepared quite a while earlier.” 
Citing fabricated information is a sign of the agency’s serious weakness and vulnerability in terms of independent verification and highlights the risk of political pressure on this international body to advance illegitimate purposes, he said. 
Kamalvandi urged the IAEA to avoid becoming a tool for certain government’s policies, warning that negligence in this regard would stain its impartiality, professionalism and independence.