Nuclear Chief: IAEA Team in Iran for Inspection, Talks
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday that International Atomic Energy Agency officials have visited Tehran to hold talks and conduct inspections to resolve ambiguities caused by the incorrect interpretation of an IAEA inspector over an alleged undeclared change to uranium enriching equipment at Fordow.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the cabinet session on Wednesday, Eslami said that the nuclear watchdog’s team is currently visiting Iran’s nuclear facilities and that the recent points of ambiguity with the UN nuclear body have either been or are being resolved.
“Those ambiguities were caused by the misunderstanding of an IAEA inspector who had earlier visited Iran. We always avoid creating new ambiguity in our cooperation with the IAEA through interaction and coordination,” he stated.
The AEOI head added that an issue like this was not something the nuclear agency would even report to its member states, so the fact that it has been leaked to Western media showed it was an effort towards “smearing and warping facts”.
The official noted Iran’s ties with the IAEA are on track within the framework of the Safeguards Agreement.
“The root cause of the current impasse in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is the failure of the major parties, mainly the US, to honor their obligations,” Eslami continued, adding that Tehran views attempts at pressuring the country into honoring its commitments under the nuclear deal one-sidedly as unacceptable.
In early February, the IAEA announced in a report that its inspectors found a modification to an interconnection between two clusters of centrifuges that was substantially different than what Iran had declared to the agency. Director General Rafael Grossi has also noted that the change was “inconsistent with Iran’s obligations” under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and undermines the IAEA’s ability to “implement effective safeguards measures” at the Fordow site.
AEOI Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi rejected the report by the UN nuclear watchdog that claims Tehran made an undeclared change to uranium enriching equipment at the Fordow facility in the Central province of Qom, stressing it was issued based on a false inadvertent report submitted by one of the nuclear agency’s inspectors.
“The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency was based on a mistake by an inspector of the oversight body who mistakenly flagged the issue,” he stated.
“The inspector who had previously reported about it also realized his mistake,” the AEOI official said.
Iran has numerously slammed the IAEA for publishing misleading reports on the country’s peaceful nuclear program, and described the UN nuclear watchdog’s approach in disclosing confidential and unverified information as unprofessional and unacceptable.
Iran has always had full cooperation with the IAEA and allowed it to visit the country’s nuclear sites, but calls the nuclear agency’s approach unconstructive and destructive. Tehran has asked the watchdog to avoid politicizing the issue and focus on technical aspects in line with the organization’s mandate.
Iranian officials have repeatedly called on Grossi to stop Israeli-influenced approach, and emphasized that Tehran would never surrender to the political behavior of the UN nuclear watchdog that is affected by the Zionist pressures.
