Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will continue in a way different from the past, said Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi in Tianjin on Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in the northern Chinese municipality after he attended the SCO foreign ministers' meeting on Tuesday, Araghchi commented on an IAEA report which was released in May this year, which said that Iran's cooperation with the agency has been "less than satisfactory" in a number of respects.
After the report was released, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution in June, declaring that Iran is not complying with its obligations regarding nuclear non-proliferation.
Araghchi said he believes the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program and the agency itself played a role in the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in June.
"We believe that the agency played a negative role in this question when it prepared the so-called comprehensive report on Iran's nuclear program with a sense to convince members of the board of governors of the agency that something wrong is going on, which was false. When we had the deal JCPOA in 2015, the board of governors had a resolution, considered all aspects of Iran's nuclear program and decided to close the so-called file of possible military dimension of Iran's nuclear program. So, the file has been already closed by the board. But the report tries to reopen that file with political purposes upon the pressure of certain countries in the board and beyond. The report paved the way for a resolution in the board of governors. The resolution became a pretext for Israelis and Americans to attack us. So, this is our reading about the work of the agency," he said.
On July 1, Iran enacted a law on suspending cooperation with the IAEA and channeled its future cooperation with the agency through Iran's Supreme National Security Council instead of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.
"I have to say very clearly and explicitly that Iran will remain committed to NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and its safeguard agreement. Iran will continue cooperation with the agency, but this cooperation is now channeled through our Supreme National Security Council. It has not stopped, but it would be considered case by case. As an example, I can say that if they wish to visit one of those targeted nuclear facilities, we have to consider how it can be done, how it should be managed. First of all, for the safety of the inspectors themselves, because as I said, there is the risk of radiation, there is unexploded ammunition still there. So, visiting a damaged facility is different from visiting a normal facility. So, what I want to say is that our cooperation with the agency is not stopped, is not ceased, but it will continue in a different way through different channel, taking into consideration all security and safety matters," said the foreign minister.
Iran to cooperate with IAEA in new way: FM
