Iran ready to cooperate with IAEA, warns of yielding to Israel’s pressure
Tehran, Sep 12 (EFE).- Iran on Monday said it was ready to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but urged the UN nuclear watchdog not to give in to Israel’s pressure.
“Iran has obligations, but it also has rights. The agency should avoid being influenced by outside pressures, including from Israel,” Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani said during a weekly press conference.
The Iranian diplomat accused Israel of playing a destructive role in the negotiations aimed to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, and warned that the Islamic republic’s future policies would be based on the outcome of the IAEA Board of Governors meeting later Monday.
“Any unconstructive actions will lead to unconstructive results,” he continued.
Kanaani was referring to the resolution the IAEA adopted in June criticizing Iran’s failure to cooperate and lack of transparency about the traces of uranium found in three undeclared sites.
In response, Tehran shut down some 40 nuclear surveillance cameras.
Kanaani highlighted that Iran expects the United States and the European Union to act in a “constructive” way to revive the nuclear pact.
The Iranian official also criticized the United Kingdom, France and Germany for saying Friday that they had reached the “limit” of their “flexibility” regarding the nuclear negotiations
Last week, the IAEA said that Iran had enriched some 55.6 kilograms of uranium to a purity level of up to 60% over the past three months.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
In 2018, then US president Donald Trump pulled out of the pact and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
For 16 months, Iran and the world powers have negotiated to finalize an agreement on reviving the landmark pact with Tehran, of which Israel has a critical view.
Iran’s army on Monday said it had developed a suicide drone that is designed to reach the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Brig. Gen. Kiomars Heidari added the drone was named Arash-2.EFE
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