Rafsanjani: Iran’s N-program legal

A senior Iranian cleric and politician has dismissed claims about any diversion in Iran’s nuclear activities, saying the country’s nuclear program is legal.

“Nuclear energy is our inalienable right. It is legal if we say we do not trust these inspectors [of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)] and that they should be changed,” chairman of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said.

Iran has not carried out any activity which ran counter to laws, IRNA quoted Rafsanjani as saying on Thursday.

His remarks came after Iran’s IAEA Ambassador Ali-Asghar Soltanieh reacted to the agency’s latest report that criticized Iran for “hampering” the IAEA’s inspectors’ visit to the country’s nuclear facilities.

Soltanieh told Press TV on Wednesday that IAEA inspectors have an obligation to abide by privacy laws.

“They have to keep confidential the information of the member states and reflect correct information” without any leakage to the media that has taken place on several occasions, he said.