Iran's AEOI rejects claims it approved IAEA's access to certain people

• 

The spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi affirmed, in an exclusive interview for Iran's official IRNA news agency, that the most recent agreements signed between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during the agency head's visit adhere to strategic law passed by the Iranian parliament.

This comes shortly after Iran and the IAEA affirmed in a joint statement they had approved certain steps to boost cooperation and hasten the resolution of outstanding safeguards issues between the two sides.

The statement was released at the conclusion of a visit by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, during which he met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami.

The two parties agreed that bilateral exchanges will be conducted in a collaborative manner, with Iran expressing its willingness to continue cooperating and providing additional information to the agency in order to address lingering safeguards issues.

Responding on whether the agreements conformed to a law approved by the Iranian parliament in December 2020 to accelerate the development of Iran's peaceful nuclear program, Kamalvandi said, “These agreements [with the IAEA] are in no way in contravention to the parliament’s strategic law and will be followed up on in total conformity with this law.”

The law, known as the Strategic Action Plan to Fight Sanctions, was passed by Iranian MPs in order to resist sanctions placed on Iran by the US and its Western allies, as well as to support the country's peaceful nuclear program.

The Iranian government is required by law to limit IAEA inspections and accelerate the development of the country's nuclear program beyond the limits set under the 2015 nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), such as ending the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The AEOI’s spokesperson rebuffed accusations that Iran has approved to give the agency access to certain people, saying, “During the two days that Mr. Grossi and his accompanying delegation were in Iran, no discussion was made of access to people and no text has been drawn up on this issue.”

“Of course, even if such a request had been made, it would have been definitely turned down [by Iran],” he acknowledged.

"After [uranium] enrichment to 60-percent purity level had been initiated for the first time at Fordow [nuclear] facility, the number of inspections had to rise in compliance with the Safeguards [Agreement between Iran and the agency]," Kamalvandi stressed.

“Basically, when the enrichment level increases or more sensitive materials are introduced into a facility, the number of inspections increases based on a mutual agreement between the two sides,” he said.

As a result of the increasing degree of enrichment at Fordow, the number of inspections has been increased from eight to eleven, as per the spokesperson.

The AEOI spokesperson also denied reports of an agreement with the agency on access to "three alleged places" as many times as the agency requested, saying, "No conversation was made about the frequency of [the IAEA's] access to three supposed locations."

“In view of the previous access to these locations, more extensive access [to them] does not seem to be necessary, and the agency has made no request [in this regard] so far,” he said.

While the IAEA's eyes are solely on Iran, the latter has constantly warned that the Israeli advanced nuclear program poses a serious threat to international security and stability.