Islamic Iran to IAEA: Correct the report

Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh has called on the nuclear agency’s chief to make corrections to his latest report on Iran’s nuclear program.

In a November 16 letter to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, Soltaniyeh said that the UN body’s chief is required to amend his latest report on Iran’s nuclear program on the grounds that he had violated the IAEA staff regulation and the agency’s Statute by distributing confidential parts of the report to a number of countries prior to its official release.

On November 8, Amano released a report claiming that Iran was engaged in activities aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

The report was circulated among the 35 members of the IAEA Board of Governors last Tuesday, ahead of the seasonal meeting of the board, scheduled to be held in Vienna on November 17-18.

In his letter, Soltaniyeh pointed out that Amano’s “report (GOV/2011/65) dated 8 November, 2011, has been categorized as ‘Restricted Distribution’ document.”

The Iranian envoy pointed out that Amano had “already distributed the confidential text of the annex days before 8 November, 2011, to certain countries including the United States of America, France, and the United Kingdom.”

“This is a clear violation of the staff regulation, the oath taken by Director General upon his assumption of the post, as well as the spirit and letter of the Statute of the IAEA since all Member States are recognized equal and have to be treated equally,” Soltaniyeh noted.

Soltaniyeh added, “In this context I remind you that according to the rules and procedures including that of the Board of Governors, reports of implementation of Safeguards in Member States, categorized as confidential with restricted distribution, cannot be disclosed or delivered to selective countries prior to authorization by the Board of Governors or the General Conference.”

Soltaniyeh further said that “there is only one option left to prevent further damage to the credibility and integrity of the Agency and my country: You declare in your introductory statement to the Board of Governors on 17 November 2011 that the report (Gov/2011/65) requires corrections and modifications following discussion with Iran therefore it could not be the basis of any decision.”

In his report, Amano claimed Iran had engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, adding that these activities “may still be ongoing.”

Iran has dismissed Amano’s latest report on its nuclear program as “unbalanced, unprofessional and prepared with political motivation and under political pressure by mostly the United States.”

The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran.

Tehran has categorically refuted Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes.