Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12
By Umid Niayesh, Saeed Isayev - Trend:
Iran will not accept any claim from IAEA unless the claim to be specified in a document, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) Ali Akbar Salehi said, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on Feb. 12.
Salehi went on to add that the documents should specify the basis for the charges.
"Iran has informed IAEA that it cannot accuse the country of something, based on sheets, which were submitted by some people," Salehi said.
"The authenticity of the document should be proved first, otherwise Iran will not talk with the IAEA," he said. "It will be a wrong approach, if the IAEA submits a new baseless document every day and claim that Iran is doing something suspicious."
On August 27, 2007 the IAEA and Iran agreed upon a workplan for addressing allegations surrounding two sets of documents that suggest that Iran had run a covert nuclear weapons research program for years.
One document is the so-called "Uranium Metal" document. The other documents - collectively known as the "alleged studies" - were produced by western intelligence agencies in late 2005.
Commenting on the recent negotiations with IAEA Salehi said that the two sides have agreed on seven more practical steps, five of which are within the framework of the Geneva nuclear deal.
He did not reveal any details about the other two steps.
On Feb. 9, Iran and IAEA signed a framework for cooperation, outlining seven measures Iran is to implement by May 15.
Iran and the P5+1 reached a nuclear agreement on Nov. 24. Iran has agreed to curb some of its nuclear activities for six months in return for sanctions relief. Both Iran and the P5+1 group have agreed to implement the agreement starting from Jan. 20.
Under the agreement, six major powers agreed to give Iran access to $4.2 billion in revenues blocked overseas if it carries out the deal, which offers sanctions relief in exchange for steps to curb the Iranian nuclear program.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.