TEHRAN —
Iran said Tuesday it had “fully” cooperated with
the UN nuclear watchdog in its probe into traces of enriched uranium found at
undeclared sites.
اضافة اعلان
The comment came after Rafael Grossi, director
general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Monday expressed
hopes that Iran would start cooperating “as soon as possible” with the
investigation.
The IAEA has been pressing the Islamic republic to
explain the previous presence of traces of nuclear material at three undeclared
sites.
Grossi said that “we have found traces of uranium in
places that have never been declared, and we are asking questions”.
The spokesman for Iran’s nuclear agency, Behrouz
Kamalvandi, said in a statement Tuesday that “Iran has fully cooperated with
the agency regarding the three sites”.
Tehran has “provided information and responses to
the agency and held meetings (with the IAEA) to resolve any ambiguity”, added
the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Kamalvandi argued that “the mere observation of
contamination in a few places cannot be considered as an indication of the
presence of undeclared nuclear materials”.
The IAEA had said in a report last Wednesday that it
was “not in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is
exclusively peaceful”.
Iran later dismissed the report as “baseless”, but
on Monday said it was “ready to cooperate with the agency to clear up the false
and unrealistic perceptions regarding its peaceful nuclear activities”.
The finding last week by the IAEA has further
complicated diplomatic efforts to revive a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between
Iran and major powers including the US.
At Monday’s start of the IAEA governors’ meeting,
Grossi had nonetheless said “we are ready” to conclude a deal with Iran, but
called for clarity on the issue of the nuclear traces.
Tehran has demanded that the IAEA’s probe be
concluded as part of any deal — one of the sticking points in the talks to
restore the 2015 agreement that gave Iran much-needed relief from sanctions in
return for curbs on its nuclear program.
The US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018
under then-president
Donald Trump, re-imposing biting economic sanctions that
prompted Iran to roll back on its own commitments.
Last month, the EU put forward what it labeled a “final”
draft of the agreement to lift sanctions on Tehran once again and push Iran to
fully comply with its obligations.
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