Tehran Stresses Adherence to Safeguards Agreement With IAEA

Iran’s nuclear activities are in complete accordance with its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and are no cause for proliferation concerns, a senior diplomat said.  
“What Iran is doing is within the exact framework of the safeguards agreement and the operations it has recently stopped were voluntary ones,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a regular press briefing on Monday, ISNA reported. 
Tehran has recently curbed its cooperation with the IAEA in response to a Board of Governors’ resolution which rebuked it for failure to give credible answers to the agency’s questions about uranium traces allegedly found at three undeclared sites. 
Iran and the agency had agreed in March to resolve the safeguards issue by June, but the director general reported that Iran’s answers were not justifiable, prompting western countries to push for an anti-Iran resolution at the IAEA quarterly board meeting.  
Iran described the move as “hasty and political” and reacted by ending its voluntary cooperation under the Additional Protocol, including the removal of 27 surveillance cameras that operated beyond the original safeguards agreement. 
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called it a very serious move, adding that without those cameras, his agency will soon be unable to declare whether the Iranian nuclear program is “peaceful”.
“Recent history tells us that it is never a good thing to start saying to international inspectors, go home... things get much more problematic,” he said in an interview on Sunday. 
Iran denies any intention to develop an atomic weapon, insisting that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful. 
Khatibzadeh stressed that Iran has the strictest monitoring on its nuclear program and has always cooperated with the agency.
He also said the resolution was a pre-designed measure which disrupted the process of cooperation agreed between Iran and the IAEA in March.
“We definitely could not leave this political and non-technical move without response… We hope they correct their behavior,” he said.
He added that Iran’s responses were proportionate, even if they insist that the resolution was a mere formality and only advisory. 
The diplomat also pointed to Grossi’s visit to Israel ahead of the IAEA board meeting, criticizing him for undermining the credibility of the agency and discrediting its safeguards achievements by allowing political influence by the regime.
“The director general must have a concern for the agency’s impartiality and independence and has a definite responsibility in this regard under the statute,” he said, adding the recent approach was a blow to the credibility of the IAEA in public opinion and at the international arena. 

Technically Reversible 

In his interview, Grossi also said the recent Iranian action makes the way back to the 2015 nuclear deal “extremely more difficult.”
“We have to sit down now, we have to redress the situation, we have to continue working together,” he said. 
The agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, gave Iran relief from economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities.
The United States, however, unilaterally pulled out of the pact and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.
Talks to revive the deal that have been underway in Vienna, Austria since April 2021 have been stalled since March.
Grossi said even if Iran reconnects the cameras in a few months, whatever work it does in the meantime will remain secret, possibly rendering useless any agreement on JCPOA. 
Khatibzadeh said the nuclear deal has not had any economic benefit for Iran for years, yet, all Iran’s measures beyond JCPOA limits are technically reversible as soon as an agreement is finalized in Vienna.
“An agreement is possible and within reach if the US does two things: first, to quit the illusion of making tools [to use against Iran], and second to agree to meet its commitments under the JCPOA and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231,” he said.
“If this happens, we could go to Vienna right away and finalize an agreement.”    
He also blamed the US for trying to prolong the Vienna talks to address certain bilateral issues through this platform. 
“Such moves as teaming up with the three European countries is a behind-the-curtain conspiracy to avoid having to implement what we insist on through exerting force,” he said.