Some Western countries have long abused international organizations and multilateral mechanisms to advance their own political goals, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday in response to the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA said in its quarterly report on Saturday that Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 percent had reached an estimated 408.6 kilograms as of May 17, a sharp increase from the 274.8 kilograms in February.
When asked to comment on the report at a weekly press briefing, spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei slammed the report as being repetitive and exaggerated.
"Some Western countries have long abused international organizations and multilateral mechanisms such as the IAEA to advance their own political goals. The content of the report issued by the IAEA is mostly repetitive, and some technical matters have been exaggerated. We have no doubt that this report was prepared under the influence and pressure from specific countries," Baghaei said.
Responding to longstanding allegations that Iran seeks to develop nuclear weapons, Baghaei argued that such claims are baseless and have been used politically by Israel to influence U.S. foreign policy.
"If you review the reports on Iran's nuclear issue, you will see that since 1984, Israeli officials have claimed that Iran would obtain a nuclear bomb within six months. It's been 40 years. Israel has been using allegations that Iran's peaceful nuclear program has reached weapons-grade as an excuse to manipulate U.S. foreign policy in the region," Baghaei said.
Iran accuses certain Western countries of abusing int'l organizations, mechanisms to advance political goals
Iran accuses certain Western countries of abusing int'l organizations, mechanisms to advance political goals
The United States cannot legitimize an operation that attacked Venezuela and captured its president, a Chinese scholar said Sunday.
On Saturday, the United States launched a large-scale strike on Venezuela, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were 'captured and flown out of Venezuela' according to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account.
Teng Jianqun, director of the Center for Diplomatic Studies at Hunan Normal University, said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) that the aim of this operation is to take full control of Venezuela’s natural resources.
"I don't think the United States can legitimize this operation to take custody of the president of Venezuela. And also I don't think the United States can legitimize its any action in taking the oil reserves of that country. This is actually a very dangerous game played by the Trump administration. And of course, the United States would like to take full control of that country and to take full control of the natural resources, especially the large reserve of oil in Venezuela," said Teng.
Teng said Venezuela is not an isolated case but a common practice by the United States. The United States launched an invasion of Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, which continued until January 1990, with the stated objective of capturing Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking and organized crime.
"We still remember the so-called sentence of the former president of Panama in the late 1980s. And this time, the president of Venezuela will be under some judicial condition (judicial proceedings) for the so-called drug trafficking and some other crimes. So I think this is not a single case for the Venezuela country, but also this is actually a practice by the United States -- to use force, to use so-called justice under law against any leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean waters," he said.
US cannot legitimize operation against Venezuela: Chinese scholar
