An international affairs analyst said the Additional Protocol should be regarded as a means to prove the peaceful nature of the nuclear program.
"The Additional Protocol enables us to claim that we are not conducting any secret (nuclear) activities," Ali Khorram said in an interview with IRNA on Saturday, adding, "It is a means for us to substantiate our claim."
Pointing to the framework for cooperation signed between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency in November 2013, he reminded that under the pact Iran pledged to take some confidence-building measures to resolve all its past and present issues with the IAEA.
Among the practical measures is allowing access to facilities for inspection under the Additional Protocol so that the UN agency can ultimately confirm Tehran's insistence that its nuclear work is solely for peaceful purposes.
The Additional Protocol is a legal document granting the IAEA complementary inspection authority to that provided in underlying safeguards agreements. A principal aim is to enable the IAEA inspectorate to provide assurance about both declared and possible undeclared nuclear activities of a member state.
Under the protocol, the IAEA is granted expanded rights of access to information and sites.
Tehran voluntarily signed the Additional Protocol in December 2003 and remained committed to it for over two years, but suspended its implementation after the UN Security Council imposed nuclear-related sanctions on Iran.
