Iran: IAEA report one-sided, fails to reflect reality

Mohammad Reza Ghaebi made the comment after IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Monday that the agency “estimated that, as of May 15, 2022, Iran’s total enriched stockpile was 3,809.3 kilograms”.

The limit in the 2015 deal was set at 300 kg (660 pounds) of a specific compound, the equivalent of 202.8 kg of uranium, AFP reported.

In his report, Grossi also said that Iran was continuing its enrichment of uranium to levels higher than the 3.67 percent limit in the JCPOA.

Ghaebi said the report, by putting aside the detailed, reasoned and technical arguments put forward by the Iranian side and unfairly calling them invalid, continues to rely on the agency's predetermined assumptions and presents its one-sided conclusion accordingly, Press TV reported.

“Iran considers this approach unconstructive and destructive to the close relations and ongoing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,” Ghaebi noted, “and believes that the IAEA should realize the ruinous consequences of publishing such one-sided reports, which could provide the necessary excuse for opponents of Iran-IAEA relations as well as the sworn critics of the revival of the JCPOA.”

In a separate report also issued on Monday, the IAEA claimed it still had questions which were “not clarified” regarding previous undeclared nuclear material at three Iranian sites.

Pointing to the second report, Ghaebi said Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities have been carried out within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The diplomat said Iran has repeatedly warned IAEA’s officials of the need to refrain from disclosing detailed information on the country’s nuclear activities based on the importance of the principle of confidentiality with regard to the IAEA regulations, but the issue has not received serious attention from the agency.

Neither fair nor balanced

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh also told reporters on Tuesday that the IAEA’s second report was “not fair’.

“Unfortunately, this report does not reflect the reality of the negotiations between Iran and the IAEA,” Khatibzadeh said.

“It’s not a fair and balanced report,” he said, adding, “We expect this path to be corrected.”

Iran saw an Israeli hand in the IAEA’s findings.

“It is feared that the pressure exerted by the Zionist regime and some other actors has caused the normal path of agency reports to change from technical to political,” Khatibzadeh said.

Source: Iran Daily