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Sep 08 2010

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Iran responds to IAEA report

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano submitted the latest IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program to the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors on Monday.

Commenting on the report, AEOI Director Ali Akbar Salehi told the ISNA news agency, "This report, like all the previous reports, has emphasized that there is no deviation toward any non-peaceful purposes in Iran's nuclear activities."

Therefore, other subjects broached in the report are marginal issues, he added.

In response to the claim made in the report that Iran's refusal to grant two of the agency's inspectors access to its nuclear facilities "hampers the inspection process and thereby detracts from the agency's capability to implement effective and efficient safeguards in Iran," Salehi said, "The inspection of Iran's heavy water plant is not within the framework of the comprehensive safeguards agreement between Iran and the agency."

"I unequivocally declare that if the agency proves to us that it should inspect Iran's heavy water facilities... I will immediately issue permits for the inspectors," he added.

Iran, like all IAEA member states, has the right to choose the inspectors who monitor its nuclear facilities, he stated.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Salehi criticized the IAEA for being influenced by the United States' pressure.

"We believe that, due to political pressure, marginal issues tend to get magnified... and cast a shadow on the main points of the report," he added.

The IAEA should always be impartial and should make sure that its credibility is not diminished, he noted.

Iran's permanent envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, also commented on the report, saying the IAEA report indicates that Iran is completely committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

After seven years of regular inspections, the IAEA report once again confirms that Iran's nuclear activities have not diverted toward any military or prohibited objectives, he told the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

However, Ambassador Soltanieh stated that the report has undermined the technical credibility of the United Nations nuclear watchdog since it has entered into technical details and quoted some articles of the UN Security Council resolution against Iran.

The UN Security Council's demands are not legitimate since they have no legal basis and exceed the provisions of the NPT, he said.

He went on to say that the IAEA report contains statistics and figures which indicate Iran has attained outstanding achievements in the field of nuclear technology.

"The report points to the Islamic Republic's achievements and its mastery of nuclear technology, especially in the field of enrichment. It also clearly indicates Iran's commitment to the agency's statute and safeguards agreement," Soltanieh said.

On May 17, Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration, according to which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

However, the United States and its European allies rejected the declaration and used their influence to convince the UN Security Council to issue a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran.