Iran Slams IAEA for Delayed Report on EBW
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) censured the UN nuclear watchdog for its delayed report on the assessment of so-called Exploding Bridge Wire (EBW) detonators.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has provided its assessment of the EBW too late, because it was initially planned to release the report in May,” Behrouz Kamalvandi told IRNA on Saturday.
EBW detonators are seen to have the potential for military applications. Iran insists that allegations of any such utility of that device in the country’s nuclear program are baseless, and has offered to help clear up ambiguities in this regard.
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.
Commenting on the report, Kamalvandi said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran had earlier notified the IAEA that due to the complexity of the issues in question, it is not possible to fully implement the five recently agreed steps (between Iran and the IAEA) by August 25.”
“From the beginning of the talks, Iran believed that setting a timeline for carrying out measures could cause problems,” he said.
“We had no commitment to the three-month deadline," he stated, adding that Iran had also announced that it will complete necessary transparency steps as soon as possible.
In November 2013, Amano visited Iran at the invitation of Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi.
The two sides signed a joint statement at the time to outline a roadmap on bilateral cooperation on certain outstanding issues.
Under the deal, Iran agreed, on a voluntary basis, to allow the IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water plant and the Gachin uranium mine.
Meanwhile, the Friday report acknowledges that no new facilities have been installed at the Arak heavy water reactor, and there has been no fuel test or production process at the site.
