IAEA Politicization of Technical Issues Not Constructive

The International Atomic Energy Agency needs to make inspection requests on technical and legal grounds and avoid politicizing issues that Iran does not consider "correct and constructive", a senior diplomat said, referring to the agency's recent report criticizing Iran for denying it access to certain sites and refusing to address uncalled for concerns.
"We have the greatest cooperation with the agency [but] do not assume an obligation to answer any baseless claim and question by the agency," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in his video press conference on Wednesday, IRNA reported.  
Along with its regular quarterly report last week, the IAEA issued an extraordinary second report, in which it said Iran has not provided the agency with access to two locations and not clarified questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities.
Diplomats following IAEA developments say the decision to inspect those sites to take environmental samples was based at least in part on documents Israel claims its intelligence agents seized in Iran.
Iran's mission to IAEA said in a statement later that the agency was denied access because it failed to provide any "legally valid and legitimate reason" for its request and the case was based on "fabricated" intelligence.
"To maintain its credibility, the agency should not investigate unfounded claims by any individual or regime," Mousavi said, adding that the questions should not be based on certain countries' politicized activity.
The European Union's foreign policy chief also later called on Iran to cooperate with the agency in a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
"Spoke by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister @JZarif … Also addressed @iaeaorg latest reports, including need for Iran to continue good cooperation with IAEA by providing all necessary clarifications and access to certain locations. EU support to IAEA as strong as ever," Josep Borrell said in a tweet.
The European Union also urged Iran to "intensify its interactions with the agency" in a statement on Tuesday.

Not Europe’s Business

Mousavi said the current issue with IAEA "does not concern Europe", but Zarif has clarified Iran's position to EU in the phone conversation with Borrell.
EU is party to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which has been unraveling since the United States pulled out in 2018 and Iran scaled back its commitments in response to the American reimposed sanctions.
European signatories have been urging Iran to return to full compliance despite their failure to make up for impacts of the US sanctions on the benefits promised to Iran under the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
In its regular report, IAEA said it has not observed any changes to Iran's implementation of the deal since the last phase of its rollback plan in early January.
In the statement, EU repeated its call on Iran to reverse measures inconsistent with the accord.
"#EU Statement states strong support for #IranDeal and urges Iran to full implementation of its nuclear related commitments without delay. Alongside this full implementation, the lifting of nuclear related sanctions is an essential part of the agreement," Stephan Klement, the EU ambassador to IAEA, said in a tweet.
Mousavi described the document as merely "statement-therapy", saying Europe needs to take action before making demands.
"If Europeans are ready, they should return to their commitments and guarantee the benefits of JCPOA for the Iranian nation," he said.
Iran has declared repeatedly that all its measures are immediately reversible once it can enjoy JCPOA benefits again.