Iran: IAEA notified of Natanz construction work

In an interview with Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Behrouz Kamalvandi said the move was taken to intensify security measures around the country’s nuclear facilities, according to Press TV.

Referring to last year’s sabotage at the TESA complex, the AEOI spokesman said the transfer of some of the activities to an area near the Natanz nuclear site is aimed at preventing the recurrence of such attacks.

The complex in Karaj, on the outskirts of Tehran, saw a sabotage attack in June last year, which authorities blamed on Israel. The attack damaged surveillance cameras at the site.

In response to reports in Western media about construction activities near the Natanz nuclear site, Kamalvandi said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed about it, even though Iran has no obligation to provide such information to the agency.

A report in The New York Times on Thursday, citing unnamed Israeli and American intelligence officials, said Iran was digging a “vast tunnel network” south of the Natanz nuclear site.

The report said Biden administration officials have been following the construction of the new facility for more than a year, “but are not especially alarmed”.

Kamalvandi said Iran has no safeguards obligation to inform the UN agency of its activities aimed at enhancing passive defense capabilities of its nuclear facilities and establishing underground workshops to relocate some activities to new locations, but it has still notified the agency of all its measures.

The AEOI spokesman described Iran’s actions as “fully transparent” and blasted the Israel-affiliated media for creating a false atmosphere around the country’s peaceful nuclear program.

He also denounced the UN nuclear agency for failing to fulfill its technical mandate and failing to condemn terrorist acts against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Tehran and the IAEA have been at loggerheads recently after the UN nuclear agency adopted an anti-Iran resolution pushed by the United States and its European allies at the agency’s Board of Governors meeting.

Before the meeting, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi made a whirlwind trip to Israel, where he met senior officials of the regime.

These unsavory developments have only complicated efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), amid stalled talks in Vienna.

Source: Iran Daily