It is up to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, not its chief, to decide whether to close the agency's inquiry into Iran's nuclear past, which is key to removal of sanctions under the July 14 nuclear pact with major powers, Iran's envoy to the UN body said.
Parallel to the deal with P5+1 (the US, the UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany), Iran and the IAEA signed a roadmap agreement, requiring the UN agency to submit a final assessment report by Dec. 15 on what it calls possible military dimensions of Iran's past nuclear activities.
The board of governors will then convene to decide whether to adopt a resolution drafted by P5+1 to announce the closure of Iran's file.
"[IAEA] Director General [Yukiya Amano] is only charged with compiling the report and the decision on closing the case is not within his jurisdiction," Reza Najafi was quoted by IRNA as telling state TV on Saturday.
"[The issue] is subject to the decision of the board of governors, just as the director general had no role in deciding to refer the Iran nuclear case to the UN Security Council in February 2006 and he only acted on the board's order."
The envoy was responding to a question about Amano's comments in a news conference after a meeting of the board on Thursday that his assessment report will not reach a definitive conclusion on the PMD file.
"The report will not be black and white," the IAEA chief said. "What I can now say is that this is an issue that cannot be answered by 'yes' and 'no'."
Najafi associated Amano's inability to provide a definitive response to the complexity of Tehran's case.
"The so-called PMD issue or questions about [Iran's] nuclear past and present are extremely complicated and some of them date back years. Clarifying all the questions is practically impossible … This is why Amano said he cannot answer with a 'yes' or 'no'."
