TEHRAN – Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency declared on Monday that Tehran will not allow the agency to continue to threaten Iran’s national security.

In dealing with Iran’s nuclear dossier, the IAEA has tried to turn Iran’s voluntary actions into ‘legal commitments’ and by entering into the domain of Iran’s conventional military activities has gone beyond its mandate, and at the “behest of certain Western members of the Board of Governors, it has threatened the national security of Iran, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will not allow this process to continue,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh stated at the annual IAEA general assembly meeting in Vienna on Monday.
In some cases, the agency is used as a tool through the interference of certain Western countries, especially the U.S., in the work of the IAEA secretariat, which undermines the authority and neutrality of the IAEA, he added.
He went on to say that “political motivations” are behind the interference in the activities of the agency.
There is always great concern about access to nuclear fuel to run atomic reactors, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA pointed out.
“The absence of any enforceable legal document to ensure access to a nuclear fuel supply is a reality which no one can deny.”
No country would ever take the risk of spending billions of dollars to construct nuclear power plants without a guarantee of a nuclear fuel supply, Soltanieh noted.
And this is the reason why Iran was forced to initiate a program to produce its own nuclear fuel, the diplomat explained.
Iran’s nuclear power plant in Bushehr was supposed to become operational three years ago, but the process has been delayed up to now because certain parties reneged on their legal commitments and promises, but no country or organization is prepared to compensate for the losses incurred due to the delay, he stated.
Iran plans to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power and has invited every country to make bids for the projects, he added