Iran Denies Giving Sweeping Pledge for IAEA Inspections

Date: 05 March 2023 - 21:54

News ID: ۱۱۳۱۱۸

TEHRAN -- Iran has denied claims that an agreement between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) involves access to individuals in Iranian atomic facilities.
Behrouza Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said during IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s two-day stay in Iran, there was no talk of access to individuals nor was this laid out in an agreement in writing.
Kamalvandi stressed that the agreement between Tehran and the UN atomic body is absolutely in keeping with the Iranian parliament’s Strategic Action Law, which prohibits any move that would compromise Iran’s nuclear rights.
The AEOI spokesman further denied claims that Iran has agreed to the installment of new cameras at its nuclear facilities.
He said such an issue was not raised during talks with Grossi.
Kamalvandi also spoke about the 50% rise in inspections of Iran’s atomic installations. He said given that the 60% uranium enrichment started at Fordo facility and was also supposed to be increased to higher levels of purity, inspections had to be increased as well in line with the safeguards approach.
Accordingly, he noted, the number of inspections was previously 8, which was raised to 11 given the increase in enrichment level.
Kamalvandi also denied reports that Iran has agreed to give the agency access to the sites where traces of undeclared nuclear activities were allegedly detected.
He said the IAEA itself did not call for accessing the purported sites.
As for access to the map of Iran’s nuclear community, he said what director of the AEOI gave Grossi was a copy of Iran’s nuclear document (CPF), which decides the type of cooperation between the IAEA and Iran in areas like technical assistance and development.
Kamalvandi underlined that the document was prepared based on the comprehensive 20-year nuclear program if Iran.
The AEOI spokesman also rejected allegations about an agreement with the agency on access to “three alleged locations” as many times as the agency demanded, saying, “There was no discussion about the frequency of access to the three alleged locations.”
“In view of the previous access to these locations, more extensive access
does not seem to be necessary, and the agency has made no request so far,” he said.
An Iranian website close to the Supreme National Security Council also said claims that the IAEA will install more monitoring equipment in Iran’s nuclear installations are lies.
Nour news said, “The most important result of IAEA director general’s trip to Tehran was achieving a joint template to speed up monitoring cooperation…news about [IAEA] getting access to individuals and three [older nuclear] sites claimed by the agency, or installing new cameras is a lie.”
Meanwhile, an Iranian daily warned the government against providing data on the country’s sensitive nuclear sites and scientists to the head of the UN nuclear agency, saying he might be serving as a spy for the occupying regime of Israel.
In an article, Kayhan said Grossi is “known for his close relationship” with the Tel Aviv regime.
Gossi has visited Occupied Palestine before or after visits to Iran, the paper said, adding the IAEA chief does not deny consulting with the Zionist regime about the Iranian nuclear program.
Kayhan said Zionist officials have also clearly stated that they had received information about Iran’s nuclear facilities through inspectors sent by the IAEA, and that Israel used the data to carry out sabotage operations in Iran and assassinate its scientists.
The daily criticized the government for allowing Grossi to have a meeting with Iranian scientists and warned that there is no guarantee he will not pass the information he collected to the Zionist regime.
It advised the government not to trust Grossi and not to provide him with any information beyond what is envisioned in bilateral agreements.