Iran Spokesman: Iran Not to Accept Additional Protocol with Overall Access

“Neither Iran nor any other sovereign state would accept them to visit any place at any time and in any method they want; the positions of countries which have accepted the the Additional Protocol (to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)) are certainly similar to Iran in this regard,” Kamalvandi said in an interview with Iran-based Arabic-language al-Alam news channel on Monday.

“The Protocol does not grant an overall permission to them to visit any place at any time,” he added.

Asked about the western media’s hues and cries about interview with the Iranian scientists, Kamalvandi said, “We don’t have anything under the title of interrogation and interview with the scientists or something like that in the safeguards (agreement) or the (Additional) Protocol.”

He also elaborated on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s inspection of Parchin military site, and said they have taken samples from Parchin twice and took 4 and 7 or 8 samples in the first and second visits, respectively.

Kamalvandi underscored that the case of Iran’s past activities should be closed and the IAEA should come to a conclusion about them after 12 years of cooperation with Tehran.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Director General for Political Affairs at the Iranian Foreign Ministry and nuclear negotiator Hamid Baeidinejad underscored that the Additional Protocol doesn’t require inspection of military sites or interrogation of nuclear scientists.

“Efforts to interpret the Additional Protocol in a way that it comes to include countries’ commitment to allow inspection of their military facilities or interrogation of their nuclear scientists are completely wrong because there is no such principle in the Additional Protocol,” Baeidinejad wrote on his Instagram page last Monday.

“The maximum thing stated in the Additional Protocol is managed access to non-nuclear sites with the aim of environmental sampling to prove that no nuclear activity has been carried out in non-declared sites,” he added.

Stressing that Tehran doesn’t have any problem with such methods, Baeidinejad said that Iran conducts all its nuclear activities only at its declared facilities and has no intention of conducting these activities in non-declared sites.

His remarks came after Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said differences still remain between Tehran and the world powers on the implementation of the Additional Protocol to the NPT, yet, he strongly rejected any possibility for the inspection of Iran’s military sites and interview with nuclear scientists by outsiders.

“Interview with scientists and inspection of military centers are fully rejected, but talks continue within the framework of the procedures envisaged in the Additional Protocol,” Araqchi told Iran’s state-run TV late last month.

“The methods for implementing the Additional Protocol are among the issues of difference and we are discussing them,” he added.

Araqchi’s remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei reiterated Iran’s opposition to the inspection of sensitive military sites and interview with the country’s nuclear scientists.

“As said before, no permission will be given for inspection of any military centers and talks with the nuclear scientists and other sensitive fields of study and intrusion into their privacy,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the Iranian cadets at Imam Hossein University – a renowned military academy of the IRGC – in Tehran late in May.

“I will not allow the aliens to hold talks and interrogate the dear and distinguished scientists and sons of this nation,” he stressed.

Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to the nuclear talks underway between Iran and the world powers, and said one of the challenges facing the talks was the other side’s bullying and excessive demands.

But he stressed that the enemies should know that the Iranian nation would not bow to the pressures and excessive demands.

In relevant comments on April 9, Ayatollah Khamenei specified conditions for a final nuclear deal with the world powers, and underlined that Iran doesn’t allow any inspection of its defensive and military centers.

“They (the foreigners) shouldn’t be allowed at all to penetrate into the country’s security and defensive boundaries under the pretext of supervision, and the country’s military officials are not permitted at all to allow the foreigners to cross these boundaries or stop the country’s defensive development under the pretext of supervision and inspection,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a large number of Iranian people in Tehran in early April.

Elaborating on his position on the recent nuclear statement issued by Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Lausanne, Switzerland, he said, “I am neither in favor nor against it since nothing has happened yet and no binding issue has occurred between the two sides.”

Ayatollah Khamenei underscored that he will support a final deal which would guarantee the Iranian nation’s honor and interests, and added, “I am not indifferent to the negotiations but I have not interfered in the details of the negotiations by now and will not interfere in the future either.”

Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the necessity for continued progress in the country’s nuclear Research and Development (R&D) and development of the nuclear industry, and said another important issue in the final deal is that “the sanctions should be removed completely on the same day (of the implementation) of any agreement”.

Also in April, Head of the AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi said there is no paragraph or article in the additional protocol to NPT to allow inspection of non-nuclear sites.

Salehi said that Paragraph 30 under Article 5 of the NPT Additional Protocol (which has not been yet accepted by Iran and should be approved by the parliament for implementation) allows the inspectors to inspect the vicinities of the non-nuclear sites, but they misinterpret that and intend to enter those sites, which will not be allowed.

“Everyone wishes to present their own interpretations of the nuclear negotiations, but the point to be kept in mind is that the Iranians have still not signed any agreement. The accomplished job so far is the shared understanding over various issues,” he went on to say referring to the Iran-Powers nuclear understanding reached in Lausanne on April 2.

After nine days of hard work in Lausanne, Switzerland, Iran and the G5+1 reached an understanding on April 2 which laid the ground for them to start drafting the final nuclear deal over Tehran’s nuclear energy program ahead of a July 1 deadline.

Reading out a joint statement at a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Lausanne on April 2, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said according to the agreement, all the US, EU and UN Security Council sanctions against Iran would be lifted under the final deal.

Talks are underway among the delegations of the seven nations to draft the final deal.