No Halt in IAEA Inquiry, Iran Stresses
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Tehran will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency in its probe into the country’s peaceful nuclear program, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA underlined.
Reza Najafi made it clear on Tuesday that Iran would still address concerns about its peaceful nuclear program, although it missed an August 25 deadline for providing information on the whole five issues that are part of the UN nuclear watchdog’s investigation.
Najafi explained that Iran could not fully implement the five transparency steps, in part because of the "complexity" of the issues involved.
In its Friday report, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano announced that Iran has implemented three of five transparency steps that it was supposed to by August 25 under a confidence-building deal it reached with the UN body back in 2013.
The Vienna-based UN body, however, noted that Iran has been slow in providing information on the two issues that are part of the IAEA's investigation, namely the alleged experiments on explosives with possible military application, and studies related to calculating nuclear explosive yields.
Najafi also stressed that Tehran will continue efforts to allay concerns on its peaceful nuclear activities, and noted, “There is no deadlock. We are sure we can implement that... We are ready to complete that.”
Iranian and the IAEA officials would meet soon again, perhaps by the end of September, Najafi told reporters.
