Official: Iran’s Nuclear Issue ‘Politicized’

Date: 15 March 2023 - 22:01

News ID: ۱۱۳۴۴۶

TEHRAN -- A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said Wednesday the Islamic Republic has reached an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding three locations where traces of uranium were found.
“If there are further questions, we will answer and talk to each other to determine how these issues can be followed up,” Behrouz Kamalvandi said.
The locations dated back to before 2003, for which Iran had already provided answers and the issue had been settled.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi visited Tehran earlier this month, saying Iran had agreed to cooperate further on the question and to re-install additional monitoring equipment such as cameras at nuclear sites.
Speaking at an event here Tuesday, Kamalvandi described Grossi’s recent visit as “fruitful”, stressing that Iran took a “step forward” to resolve outstanding issues.
During the visit, Iran and the IAEA agreed to enhance cooperation and clarify issues related to Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Kamalvandi said the country’s nuclear program has been “politicized” both domestically and overseas, stressing that he sees the future as “grey”, with “neither optimism nor pessimism.”
The official lashed out at the three European signatories – the UK, France and Germany – to the 2015 nuclear deal, saying they previously criticized the U.S. for walking out of the deal but now blame Tehran for the impasse.
While Iran escaped another scathing resolution at the IAEA board of governors’ meeting this week in Vienna, the U.S. and the European troika took strong umbrage at Iran’s enrichment activities.
Ali Ahmadi, a geoeconomics expert and executive fellow at Geneva Center for Security Policy, told Anadolu that the issue, “stuck in the broader nuclear negotiation,” is unlikely to be resolved soon.
“The Iranian delegation wants the closure of the matter tied into the reimplementation of the JCPOA, while the West wants the two matters kept separate,” he stated.
Mohsen Naziri Asl, Iran’s envoy to the UN nuclear agency, said his country is willing to cooperate over its nuclear program while insisting on avoiding “confrontation.”
“There are many things to do in the coming weeks and months toward addressing issues of common

interest, for that Iran is very much willing to work with Rafael Grossi,” he said.

Hassan Beheshtipour, a Tehran-based senior political analyst, believes that if Iran and the IAEA reach an agreement, “one of the most important nodes in the negotiations will be opened.”

“I think if the IAEA announces that it has received answers to its three questions from Iran and is convinced, the way to conduct new negotiations between Iran and the West will open,” he told Anadolu, linking de-escalation of Iran-West tensions to the nuclear file.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who met Grossi separately in Tehran, told the UN nuclear chief that the U.S. and the occupying regime of Israel have “used nuclear issue as an excuse to put pressure on the Iranian nation.”