World powers make decisions for IAEA: Iran ex-negotiator

A former Iranian nuclear negotiator says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) never deals with Israel’s military nuclear program because the organization is run by world powers.

“The world powers decide in the IAEA. The Board of Governors of the IAEA is dominated by the world powers,” Hossein Mousavian, now a fellow at Princeton University, told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.

According to Mousavian, another example of the domination of world powers over the IAEA is its inaction on Egypt and South Korea, which were both “accused of non-compliance” in 2005 — the same year, the UN nuclear agency’s governing board referred Iran’s case to the UN Security Council.

“They (IAEA Board of Governors) did not do anything against them (South Korea and Egypt) because Egypt at that time and [Hosni] Mubarak, the dictator, was the ally of the US and South Korea was the ally of the West,” Mousavian said, adding that the IAEA board “closed the file immediately,” which shows “the IAEA really is completely politicized.”

Most experts estimate that Israel has about 200 nuclear warheads, largely based on leaks in the 1980s.

Israel, which has started several wars in the region in its history of occupation, maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity over its nuclear weapons program and does not allow international inspectors to visit its nuclear sites.

On the other hand, the illegal US-engineered sanctions on Iran have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

“There has been thousands of inspections [of Iran’s nuclear facilities]. There is no diversion in Iranian nuclear program,” Mousavian emphasized.