Iran nuclear case fabricated scenario: Iran nuclear chief

Iran’s nuclear chief says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s recent decision to drop the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) in relation with the country’s nuclear case proved that the entire case was fabricated.

The whole nuclear case of Iran was “manufactured” in order to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, said head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali-Akbar Salehi, who made the remarks during a televised interview on Tuesday night following the closure of the PMD case.

During its meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday, the IAEA’s Board of Governors overwhelmingly voted in favor of a draft resolution which brings down the curtain on a 12-year investigation into the past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

The draft resolution on Iran’s past nuclear activities had been submitted by the P5+1 group of countries on December 7.

Before the recent resolution, Salehi said, the Board of Governors was tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Safeguards Agreement in Iran based on the UN Security Council resolutions, but now its task is to oversee and verify Iran’s nuclear activities under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Tehran and the P5+1 group in mid-July.

IAEA resolution new chapter in Iran-IAEA ties

In a separate development, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that the closure of the PMD case on Iran’s nuclear program will open a new chapter in Tehran’s ties with the UN nuclear agency.

Araqchi said the ratification of the resolution is a major step toward the implementation of the JCPOA, adding that following the closure of the PMD case, Iran will now start fulfilling its commitments regarding two major issues, namely the redesigning of the Arak heavy water reactor and the shipment of Iran’s enriched uranium stock out of the country. He also noted that Iran will continue to fulfill its other obligations as stipulated in JCPOA., adding that the closure of the PMD case bears testimony to the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program.

Iran and the P5+1 group – the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany – concluded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna on July 14. Under the JCPOA, limits are put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.