IAEA report on Iran reopened already closed issues

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh says the IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s report has “reopened already closed issues.”

“The report is lengthy, as director general himself confirmed in his opening statement, including historical background,” Soltanieh said in Vienna before the Board of Governors on Wednesday.

“The report has reopened already closed issues, mixed the legally binding and the voluntary measures, mixing the obligations under the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) Comprehensive Safeguards with voluntary measure recommended by Additional Protocol and even beyond,” Soltanieh added in his statement, a copy of which was obtained by Press TV.

According to the Iranian envoy, the Safeguards Department claimed that it intended to refresh the memory of old friends and to facilitate the task of new Director General as well as new ambassadors.

“The report has highlighted the allegations of those few western countries I referred to in my general remark, opening a dangerous trend of involving [the] agency in activities beyond the framework of the [IAEA] Statute, namely conventional military activities, interfering the national security of the member states,” he explained.

Soltanieh also pointed out that the report was not balanced and factual, since it did not duly reflected the cooperation, letters and explanations of Iran to the questions of, or communication made with the IAEA.

According to the Iranian official, in several parts of the report there are information contrary to the article 26 of the General Conference Resolution GC(52)/RES13, which states, “Request the director general and the secretariat to continue to provide objective technically and factually based reports to the Board of Governors and the general conference on the implementation of safeguards with appropriate reference to relevant provisions of safeguards agreements.”

Iran has repeatedly objected to what it describes as the unfair privileges that a few states have at the UN Security Council that allows some powerful countries to act above the law.

The US and its allies accuse Tehran of following a military agenda under its civilian nuclear program, although the UN nuclear watchdog inspectors stationed in Iran have not been able to substantiate such claims.

Under pressure from Washington, the UN Security Council has already passed a number of resolutions against Iran with the aim of restricting its nuclear activities.

Iran, however, has disregarded the motions, arguing that the resolutions are in direct contradiction with the IAEA regulations, which clearly state that all countries are entitled to enrich uranium as part of a peaceful nuclear program.