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IAEA report a historic mistake, Iran says

Nuclear Program Materials 9 November 2011 07:05 (UTC +04:00)
The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has criticized the agency's latest report on Iran, calling it a historic mistake, Press TV reports.
IAEA report a historic mistake, Iran says

The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has criticized the agency's latest report on Iran, calling it a historic mistake, Press TV reports.

Soltanieh told Press TV on Tuesday that the IAEA report is unbalanced, unprofessional, and politically motivated.

He stated that the IAEA has taken an unprofessional approach, adding that neither the agency nor its director has the right to disseminate false information about any member state.

Soltanieh noted that this historic mistake disturbed the "conducive environment" that Iran had created through visits by IAEA officials to Iranian nuclear sites and facilities, saying, "This has created difficulties, and of course, it gives excuses to the enemies."

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's latest report on Iran's nuclear activities was distributed to the 35 members of the Board of Governors of the agency on Tuesday evening, ahead of the seasonal meeting of the board, which is scheduled to be held in Vienna from November 17 to 18.

Soltanieh added that the report repeats old charges that the Islamic Republic proved were fabricated in a comprehensive 117-page response presented to the IAEA four years ago.

"Almost all of the items which have been reflected in the annex are obsolete and repetitive, and we have discussed them before," he said.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program.

Yet, as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, Iran has every right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

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