Israel Matzav

And again: Iran disses the IAEA

Iran has announced that its cooperation with the IAEA is conditional on the agency taking a 'positive approach,' calling Iran's intentions into question once again for those who still have doubts.

Fereidoon Abbasi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said that while Tehran will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it "will not accept any new undertakings" in the matter.

"We have always cooperated with the international body, even beyond some agency standards… But, we will not accept additional undertakings," Abbasi told the state-controlled Fars news agency.

Wednesday also saw the UN voice its growing concern over Iran's refusal to comply with IAEA guidelines. The Security Council denounced Tehran's failure to abide by UN resolutions calling it to suspend its nuclear program, which the West believes harbors a military agenda.

The Islamic Republic recently announced that it will not suspend or halt its uranium enrichment efforts, maintaining that the atom program serves the country's civilian goals. Iran's 20% uranium enrichment goals can be used for military-grade weapons.

Tehran claims it is lending the IAEA its full cooperation, but UN officials maintain that it does not follow the nuclear watchdog's transparency guidelines.

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Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's delegate to the nuclear watchdog, said that the UN-appointed body needs to have a "positive approach" towards Iran if it expects it to remain accommodating.

"Iran has repeatedly announced that it opposes nuclear weapons and that all its activities pursue peaceful objectives and are carried out under the IAEA's full surveillance," Soltanieh was quoted as saying.

"The claims about Iran's nuclear arms are baseless," he added.

Soltanieh maintained that the last IAEA report on Iran "contained positive points about (Iran's) cooperation, which were not mentioned in previous reports.

"Certain misunderstandings over Iran's nuclear activities have been cleared up, and the inspections of the country's centrifuge research centers by IAEA have proven that Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful," he said.

We're in a race for the finish line. Who will get there first: Iran's nuclear program or Obama's Republican replacement? What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, IAEA, Iranian nuclear threat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:48 AM