A month after a resolution was issued by the IAEA Board of Governors, technical inspectors from the agency will travel to Iran to investigate the alleged issues mentioned in the resolution and other statements by the IAEA about nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday that an IAEA team will soon visit Tehran to help remove the claimed obstacles and to take a step forward in order to resolve the remaining safeguards issues.
An IAEA official declared earlier this month that the agency’s technical team will travel to Iran on December 18 on an official invitation by Tehran.
Mikhail Ivanovich Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of Russia to International Organizations in Vienna, welcomed the move but insisted that no one expects any breakthrough from the trip.
The high level of cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the IAEA had been mentioned in all reports issued by the UN nuclear watchdog at least until three years ago.
However, those positive reports gradually faded away due to the influence of the Zionist regime on agency. Allegations such as “undeclared nuclear materials” in “several unannounced locations in Iran” have become a basis for issuing resolutions against Tehran over the past year.
The IAEA accuses Iran of failure to comply with its commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That comes as reports by the agency prove that the Islamic Republic has consistently cooperated with the agency so far.
The new accusation leveled by the IAEA Board of Governors is that there have been radioactive materials in some undeclared sites in Iran. The sites the agency has mentioned are exactly those highlighted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018, including Torghuzabad, Shian and Marivan. The Iranian authorities have time and again underlined that there has been no nuclear activity in those locations. The country has also reiterated on numerous occasions that it has never pursued any kind of covert uranium enrichment program.
The visit by the IAEA technical team will take place at a time the US and allies keep accusing Iran of refusing to cooperate with the nuclear watchdog. However, the fact that the trip has been allowed by Iran is itself a sign of Tehran’s practical collaboration with the IAEA.
The visit could only be a success if the IAEA is really serious in its intentions to clarify outstanding issues with Iran.
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