TEHRAN —
Iran reaffirmed Monday its “readiness” to cooperate with the UN nuclear
watchdog, after the agency said in a report it “cannot assure” the peaceful
nature of Tehran’s nuclear program.
اضافة اعلان
The finding last
week by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) further complicated
diplomatic efforts to revive a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and
major powers, including the US.
Iran is “ready to
cooperate with the agency to clear up the false and unrealistic perceptions
regarding its peaceful nuclear activities”, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser
Kanani said in a press conference.
Tehran declares its
“readiness to continue constructive cooperation with the IAEA”, Kanani added,
also pointing to the agency’s “obligations”.
IAEA director
general Rafael Grossi said he hoped that Iran would start cooperating “as soon
as possible”.
“We are ready, we
want this to happen, we are not in the business of aggravating or creating
situations, we just want this issue to be clarified,” Grossi told reporters
after opening the IAEA’s board of governors meeting.
“This is very
straightforward. We found traces of uranium in places that were never declared,
that were never supposed to have any nuclear activity, and we are asking
questions.”
In its report last
Wednesday, the IAEA said it was “not in a position to provide assurance that
Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful”.
The IAEA has been
pressing Iran for answers on the previous presence of traces of
nuclear material at three undeclared sites. The issue led to a resolution criticizing
Iran being passed at the June meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors.
Tehran, which has
consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons, responded to the resolution by
disconnecting 27 cameras allowing the agency to monitor some of its nuclear activities.
Kanani said no
resolution was expected during this week’s meeting, but warned that any further
“unconstructive action” by the agency “will again have unconstructive results”.
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, reimposing
biting economic sanctions that prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own
commitments.
Last month, the EU put forward 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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