The ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency referred to a section of a recent report by the UN nuclear agency on Iran’s implementation of practical measures it agreed to carry out under a cooperation accord, saying it was “flawed”, failing to capture the realities of the situation.
“As far as the implementation of practical measures … and the relevant meetings between Iran and the IAEA are concerned, it is clear that we have had progress and the UN agency had described the previous meeting as constructive in a formal statement,” Reza Najafi said. “In our view, the section of (IAEA) director general (Yukiya Amano’s) report covering this issue is flawed and has failed to reflect the realities,” he was quoted by IRNA as saying on Friday.
Iran and the UN agency signed the framework for cooperation in November 2013 under which Iran pledged to take some practical measures to resolve all its past and present issues with the IAEA. The quarterly report, which was obtained by Reuters, said the Islamic Republic had provided some information about one of two open items in the investigation into what the UN nuclear watchdog calls possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program.
Repetitive Claims
Najafi rejected the claims made in the report concerning the issue of PMD as “baseless” and “repetitive”, saying, “Repeating (such claims) does not enhance their credibility, but rather diminishes their value.”
“The IAEA director general’s report is the first to have been released after the issuance of the Lausanne statement, which was welcomed by him. The report indicates that Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities in nuclear sites are ongoing under the IAEA’s supervision without any deviation from their civilian purposes,” Najafi said.
Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) reached an agreement on the framework of a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear program, announced through a joint statement released on April 2 in the Swiss city of Lausanne. The report verified that Iran has implemented the measures it had voluntarily undertaken based on the Geneva agreement, Najafi said, referring to the interim deal Iran and the six major powers signed in late 2013.
“This is important,” he noted, explaining, “Because it is the task the IAEA will take on if the final nuclear deal is struck; A purely technical and professional task resulting in the lifting of sanctions on the same day the deal comes into force.”
Tehran and its international negotiating partners are now trying to iron out the details of the final accord by a self-imposed end-June deadline, which would lift sanctions in exchange for Iran’s acceptance of some restrictions on its nuclear activities for specified durations, including monitoring by the IAEA of nuclear facilities. Najafi criticized the UN agency for indiscriminately disclosing the details of Iran’s nuclear program in its reports, saying that the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has frequently protested the move, which has been ignored by the IAEA.
The IAEA’s confidential report was issued to all its member states.
