IAEA Director General expresses concern over Iran's lack of full cooperation

At the ongoing meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors, the IAEA Director General expressed serious concern about Iran's denial of access to two nuclear sites and called for the country's immediate and full cooperation with the Agency.

The meeting of the member states of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is being held virtually this time due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, began today, Monday (June 15/June 16) with speeches by Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the Agency.

In part of the opening statement of today's Board of Governors meeting, Rafael Grossi expressed his "serious concern" about two issues: that Iran "has not provided access to two sites for more than four months and that it has not engaged in substantive negotiations to answer our questions regarding possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear activities for almost a year."

Grossi called on Iran to cooperate fully and immediately with the Agency.

Grossi will hold a press conference today at 12:15 local time on various topics, including the issue of Iran.

The agency should not engage in unnecessary marginalization.

While the IAEA Board of Governors meeting is underway, Abbas Mousavi, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a press conference on Monday (June 16) that the new report by the UN Secretary-General against Iran, which points to the Iranian origin of the missile launch at Aramco, is "fully in line with the new US policy and plan against Iran."

In this press conference, Mousavi called the content of the report a "baseless claim" and said: "We evaluate the accusation based on pressure from the United States and the Saudi regime."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman considered the basis of the accusations against Iran to be “the claims of the Zionist regime and Netanyahu himself,” and said: “It is regrettable that the agency, instead of relying on solid evidence and looking at Iran’s high-level cooperation to date, accepts the regime’s claims and bases its questions on them, whose hostility to our people, system, and the international system is obvious to everyone.” Mousavi stated that “America has taken the United Nations and international institutions hostage to its goals,” and advised the agency: “Be realistic in this regard and do not base your questions on the claims of the United States and the Zionist regime.”

Mousavi emphasized in this press conference that “the agency should appreciate this cooperation and not engage in unnecessary marginalization.”

A report based on “baseless allegations”

In its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), emphasizing Iran's violation of the restrictions set in the JCPOA, expressed "serious concern" about Iran's blocking of access to several suspected nuclear sites.

The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, one of the two policy-making pillars of the agency, used this report as a basis in its meeting today.

Although the two sites in question are not particularly important in terms of Iran's current nuclear activities, the IAEA considers it necessary to obtain information on whether past activities at these centers, dating back almost two decades, have been declared and identified by Iran in accordance with principles and regulations, and whether all activities have been accounted for.

The agency's recent report detailed efforts by its officials to gain access to the sites. Iran expressed "deep regret" in response, saying the report was compiled based on "false intelligence information."

Israel has previously claimed that its intelligence services have uncovered reports of Iran's previous nuclear weapons program and activities. Western countries have also expressed concern about preventing Iran from accessing nuclear facilities.

The latest dispute over access to nuclear facilities comes as a historic 2015 deal between Iran and world powers is on the verge of collapse.

Within the framework of the JCPOA, Iran had pledged to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and other benefits.

However, in response to the US's unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and the imposition of sanctions against the country, Iran announced its gradual withdrawal from these commitments step by step.

The latest IAEA report says Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is now eight times the limit set in the deal, but this level of enrichment is still far below the level needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

The IAEA says it still has access to all the necessary facilities to monitor Iran's nuclear activities.

US Efforts to Extend UN Arms Sanctions Against Iran

The latest tensions will complicate efforts by the three European signatories to the JCPOA, Germany, Britain and France, to preserve the deal and prevent its collapse. Trump has called on these countries to follow the United States in withdrawing from the deal.

The US ambassador to the United Nations said last Friday that the United States had provided Russia with a draft resolution to extend the arms embargo on Iran. Although Russia and China have announced that they have initiated measures to prevent the extension of the arms embargo on Iran, American officials have expressed confidence that the UN arms embargo on Iran will be extended and say that Washington has planned to achieve this goal.

Iran is following US efforts in this regard with concern. Under the JCPOA and Resolution 2231, the arms embargo on Iran is set to expire in October. Last week, the Iranian president called on other members of the UN Security Council, especially the two veto-wielding countries, Russia and China, to stand up to the US “conspiracy.”

Source: DW