Iran says its nuclear activities are not currently being monitored by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which oversees a global ban on nuclear test explosions.
The CTBTO does not have any "active center or monitoring equipment" in Iran and no information is being sent to its headquarters, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said in remarks carried by IRNA on Monday.
Al-Monitor reported on Thursday that the administration of US President Donald Trump is allowing high-tech US exports to Iran that could boost international oversight of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Under laws that came into force after the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the United States restricts "dual-use" exports that could be used in a nuclear weapons program. Iran says its nuclear program has no military dimensions and is only for peaceful purposes.
The report said US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan has signed a waiver that allows a Maryland-based company to export broadband networks, satellite dishes and wireless equipment—requested by the Vienna-based CTBTO—to Iran for stations that monitor nuclear explosions in real time.
Monitoring Sites
Al-Monitor wrote that although the US and Iran are among the nations that have not ratified the 1997 treaty, organization officials have nevertheless set up three sites in Iran to transmit explosion data back to Vienna, giving US and other policymakers a live, independent channel to watch the Islamic Republic's nuclear activity.
Hughes Network Systems, the Maryland-based company contracted in October to put in place a communications backbone behind the verification sites, is tasked with transmitting explosion data between Iran and the US, the report said, adding that the CTBTO has certified a seismic station for use in Tehran and two more in Kerman and Shushtar, with three more sites on the way.
Skewed
Qasemi said the content of the report concerning Iran is "incorrect", "skewed", and without any basis in fact.
Tehran has "signed" the treaty in question but has not "ratified" it yet so the organization is not active in Iran, he stated.
The CTBT was negotiated in Geneva between 1994 and 1996. One hundred and eighty three countries have signed the treaty, of which 166 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapon states, namely France, Russia and the United Kingdom. But 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify before the treaty can enter into force, according to the organization's website.
