TEHRAN - It is necessary that the International Atomic Energy Agency not to listen to reports presented by spy agencies of countries hostile to Iran, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has said.

“The Agency should not be a complementary instrument for spy services of the countries and endorse the espionage acts which violate other countries’ sovereign rights as well as laws ruling international relations,” Salehi said in an interview with the Persian-language Etemad newspaper published on Sunday.

Last month the IAEA repeated claims by certain countries that it had identified three locations in Iran where the country possibly stored undeclared nuclear material or undertook nuclear-related activities without declaring it to international observers, Fars reported.

Following the claims, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi demanded Iran’s “clarifications” over the so-called undeclared sites.

Salehi expressed surprise that the claims by Israel and certain countries against Iran have received attention from the UN body after IAEA chief Yukiya Amano died in office.

The UN nuclear watchdog has acknowledged that Iran is subject to the most intrusive inspections by the international body.
 
AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi also said that the UN nuclear watchdog had raised demands from Iran which did not have any legal basis. Kamalvandi said Tehran had strong reasons not to respond them.

Tehran has "strong reasons” not to respond to “unprincipled questions and demands” by the IAEA, Kamalvandi said in an interview with national TV.

He added that Iran has offered the most detailed reports to the agency, noting that no country in the world has had this level of cooperation with the IAEA.

“Questions and accesses demanded by the International Atomic Energy Agency must have a legal basis,” Kamalvandi insisted.

EM/PA