Tehran, Iran, April 26
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
It is possible that Iran would allow the International Atomic Energy Organization access to non-nuclear sites under conditions, said Head of Iran Atomic Energy Organization Aliakbar Salehi.
He made the statement speaking in a live interview with the Iranian state TV in response to a question whether US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz's claim that Iran would provide the IAEA with "unprecedented access" to its nuclear program, the Iranian government's website reported April 26.
"They are probably explaining the additional protocol from their own viewpoint," he said. "If the IAEA would like to inspect non-nuclear sites, they have to first of all tell so to Iran, and then justify why they do so."
Then Iran would decide whether to give them access to some sites or maybe for example let them visit some kilometers away from a site so that they may examine environmental indicators that would reveal of something's wrong, or would give them limited access to certain sections of the sites, he explained.
Back on April 9, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan rejected a report from the Guardian that claimed Iran would allow inspection of its military facilities under the Lausanne framework agreement.
There is no agreement on the issue, Dehghan said, adding visiting the military facilities is among the Islamic Republic's redlines.
In reaction to a statement by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov who said that the issue of access to Iran's Parchin nuclear site has not been resolved, Salehi said that Iran has already given the IAEA access to the site two times.
He went on to say that Iran cannot just grant the IAEA unlimited times access to the site because it is logically impossible.
The official said that giving way to the IAEA under claims such as alleged studies cannot go on forever.
"We have no problem with the visits. The problem is governmental. The Islamic Republic cannot let them come for inspections whenever they desire," he asserted.
Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said February 20 that Tehran has no obligation to answer the "alleged false questions".
His statements about the "false information" refered to IAEA's two questions from Iran to find out further information on high explosives testing and computer modeling that could be related to developing nuclear weaponry. Iran rejects these claims.