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Eslami: Iran ready to consider IAEA protocol for targeted nuclear sites
Speaking on the sidelines of a nuclear exhibition in Tehran, Mohammad Eslami said that inspections have been carried out at the nuclear sites which were targeted in June’s attacks, but the important point is that the inspection of the damaged facilities is now being raised again.
“There should be a specific protocol for these cases. An agency that neither condemned (attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites) nor has any protocol for such circumstances, has no right to demand inspections.”
He added that pressure from three European powers, the United States and Israel “is not important to us and has no impact.”
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said on Sunday that the agency has resumed inspection activities in Iran but remains unable to access several of the country’s most sensitive nuclear sites.
“We are only allowed to access sites that were not hit,” he told Russia’s RIA Novosti.
“These other three sites – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow – are even more significant, since they still contain substantial amounts of nuclear material and equipment, and we need to return there.”
Tensions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have repeatedly flared in recent years, with relations being further strained in the wake of a 12-day aggression in June that saw Israeli and US strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran suspended its cooperation with the IAEA after the 12-day aggression against Iran as per a law adopted by Parliament.
Tensions escalated as Iranian officials said the IAEA effectively provided cover for the strikes by declaring the country in violation of its non-proliferation obligations shortly before the bombardment and then failing to condemn the aggression.