Gov’t spokeswoman: IAEA chief admits peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear work
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani on Tuesday reaffirmed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, saying that the UN atomic agency recently admitted that Iran had never had a nuke program.
“Iran will never move toward making a nuclear bomb because of its culture and history, Iranians’ beliefs and a religious decree forbidding the production and use of such weapons as well as the mannerism of the Iranian people, which is founded on humanity,” Mohajerani told reporters at a weekly press conference, according to ISNA.
Iran’s nuclear program has been a source of contention with Western countries for more than two decades. While Iran insists that its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and aimed at civilian purposes such as energy production and medical research, Western powers—particularly the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany—have long expressed concern that Tehran could be seeking the capability to develop nuclear weapons.
Back on October 30, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons.
Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Grossi said the Iranians “are not, and they were not,” attempting to develop nukes. “I want to be very clear on this,” he added. “We are often misquoted about this and people say that we have said things we never said.”
Grossi, who has led the UN’s nuclear watchdog since 2019, said cooperation between Iran and the IAEA had fluctuated in recent months as a result of political developments, but Tehran had nonetheless reaffirmed its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“I have told our Iranian counterparts repeatedly that reducing cooperation is not the right response,” he said. “But I think it is a wise step that they have made clear they will not leave the NPT.”
In July, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA following Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. Tehran said the IAEA effectively paved the way for the Israel-US strikes with a report on May 31 that led the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors to declare Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. Iran also denounced the IAEA’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities as a reason for its decision.
Mohajerani said on Tuesday that cooperation with the UN agency would take place within the framework of regulations and under the supervision of the country’s Supreme National Security Council.