Salehi Tells IAEA Head: Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure
VIENNA (Dispatches) -- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi says Tehran is open to talks on the country’s nuclear program but will not bow to pressure for its decisions.
Iran’s "relations with the IAEA are very good and based on mutual understanding, and as an international authority, this organization and its decisions should not be influenced by political inclinations,” Salehi told new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi here.
Iran, Salehi said, welcomes negotiation and logic but will not make any decisions under pressure.
Grossi praised Iran’s cooperation with the international organization in various areas and demanded that the Islamic Republic continue constructive cooperation with the IAEA as in the past.
Last May, Iran began to gradually reduce its commitments to both retaliate for Washington’s departure the Europeans’ failure to respect their obligations towards Tehran.
Iran took a fifth step in reducing its commitments last month, and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development.
Salehi met head of French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission François Jacq on Wednesday to discuss the fate of the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is officially called.
The Iranian official said the implementation of the nuclear deal was initially "successful”, but France later failed to fulfill its commitments, including with regard to cooperation with Iran on nuclear fusion.
The IAEA, Salehi said, has confirmed Iran’s commitment to its obligations under the JCPOA for 16 times, but Iran’s minimum expectations have not been met.
"Public opinion in Iran is seriously dissatisfied and demands reciprocal action,” he said.
Jacq, for his part, voiced his country’s regret over the US withdrawal from nuclear deal as well as Iran’s decision to roll back its commitments, saying France continues to support the JCPOA.
Iran’s "relations with the IAEA are very good and based on mutual understanding, and as an international authority, this organization and its decisions should not be influenced by political inclinations,” Salehi told new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi here.
Iran, Salehi said, welcomes negotiation and logic but will not make any decisions under pressure.
Grossi praised Iran’s cooperation with the international organization in various areas and demanded that the Islamic Republic continue constructive cooperation with the IAEA as in the past.
Last May, Iran began to gradually reduce its commitments to both retaliate for Washington’s departure the Europeans’ failure to respect their obligations towards Tehran.
Iran took a fifth step in reducing its commitments last month, and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development.
Salehi met head of French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission François Jacq on Wednesday to discuss the fate of the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is officially called.
The Iranian official said the implementation of the nuclear deal was initially "successful”, but France later failed to fulfill its commitments, including with regard to cooperation with Iran on nuclear fusion.
The IAEA, Salehi said, has confirmed Iran’s commitment to its obligations under the JCPOA for 16 times, but Iran’s minimum expectations have not been met.
"Public opinion in Iran is seriously dissatisfied and demands reciprocal action,” he said.
Jacq, for his part, voiced his country’s regret over the US withdrawal from nuclear deal as well as Iran’s decision to roll back its commitments, saying France continues to support the JCPOA.