Iran: IAEA went beyond legal domain

Iran says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has acted beyond its legally defined jurisdiction in its latest report on the country’s nuclear work.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in his Tuesday weekly press conference that the IAEA report was “outside the domain of its duties” and politically influenced.

“We consider this report to have violated the IAEA domain of activities,” Mehmanparast said, adding that the IAEA credibility may be challenged if the body continues such a trend.

In its latest report on Iran’s nuclear work, the IAEA once gain confirmed that it continued to “verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.”

The report, however, urged the Islamic Republic to “cooperate in clarifying outstanding issues.”

Iran says it has been cooperating with the agency beyond its legal obligations.

US freed national

Mehmanparast further pointed out that Iran has released Sara Shourd based on Islamic compassionate grounds and Iran’s high regards for the status of women.

Shourd and two other American nationals were arrested in July 2009 for illegally entering the country at a sensitive Iraqi border area.

The three Americans were charged with espionage after the Tehran prosecutor cited “compelling evidence” that the trio were collaborating with US intelligence agencies.

Mehmanparast insisted that the release of Shourd came despite a firm legal case against her, adding that Tehran expects Washington to release eight Iranian citizens that were “illegally” held captive in the United States.

Sakineh Ashtiani

The spokesman also censured some Western officials and media outlets for turning the case of Sakineh Ashtiani, an Iranian woman convicted of adultery and murder, into a political tool against the Islamic Republic.

“We believe that the West has taken a political approach towards the human rights issue in order to levy pressure on Iran. Otherwise, defending a person who has committed murder and adultery has no justification.”

According to Mehmanparast, Western countries could start releasing murders in their own countries if they thought that all those committing crimes in other countries had to be released.