Tehran, (Asian independent) Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has dismissed the recent comments by the head of the UN nuclear organisation that Iran was not fully transparent about its nuclear activities.
Kanaani on Monday was responding to the remarks made by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi at a summit in Dubai on February 13, where he said Iran was “presenting a face which is not entirely transparent” and this “increases dangers”.
The Spokesman told a weekly press conference in Tehran that Iran’s nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and in accordance with international rules and regulations and the safeguards agreement with the IAEA, Xinhua news agency reported.
He said Iran was exercising its rights and fulfilling its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and that developing nuclear weapons had no place in Iran’s military doctrine, as stressed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Kanaani urged not to let the IAEA become a platform for raising “political, unprofessional and untechnical” issues, adding that the revival of the JCPOA was still on the Iranian government’s agenda.
Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. However, the US withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.
The talks on restoring the JCPOA began in April 2021 in Vienna, but no significant progress has been made since the last round ended in August 2022.
