IAEA needs to be run professionally

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano should run the agency with a professional approach.

Mottaki made the remarks in the wake of Tehran’s decision to bar the entrance of two UN nuclear inspectors to Iran who had provided the agency with false information on Iran’s nuclear program.

“This is actually a bylaw notice to Amano to take care that his inspectors do not violate the regulations of the international body,” said Mottaki in a televised interview late Monday.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Monday that the two inspectors would be barred from entering the country for passing false information about Iran’s nuclear program to the IAEA and revealing information precipitately. Tehran has asked the IAEA to appoint two new inspectors for the job.

Mottaki further reiterated that the fresh sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council (UNSC) would be to no avail and said they would be a heavy defeat for Western states “which have been trying to impede Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.”

The UNSC endorsed a US-sponsored sanctions resolution against Iran on June 9 over its uranium enrichment program.

The US-proposed resolution was passed with 12 votes after UNSC member states Brazil and Turkey voted against the new sanctions and Lebanon abstained from voting.