News / Nuclear Energy

IAEA denies leaking confidential info on Iran nuclear program

Saturday, 30 July 2016 3:13 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 31 July 2016 10:38 AM ]

The photo shows a view of the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has denied leaking confidential information about Iran’s nuclear program.

On July 18, the Associated Press, citing a classified document, said Iran’s scaling back of its nuclear program under last year’s agreement with the P5+1 group of countries “will start to ease years before the 15-year accord expires.”

Reacting to the report, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on July 24 that Iran will submit a note of protest to the UN nuclear agency.

Kamalvandi said “the parts [of the document] published were confidential and were supposed to remain so” and added, “Our assumption is that it has been leaked by the agency.”

In a statement on Friday, the IAEA said it has received a letter from Iran this week which referred to a leaked document and to the possibility of leakage by the agency of parts of Iran’s initial declaration of its Additional Protocol.

“The Agency has sent a letter in reply strongly disagreeing with and rejecting any statement implying that the Agency has leaked information related to Iran’s initial declaration of its Additional Protocol,” it added.

The AEOI head, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on July 23 that Iran had asked the UN nuclear agency to keep the data on Tehran’s long-term nuclear program confidential as there is no reason to make the information public.

He added that Iran has also agreed that the joint commission which oversees the implementation of the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will be notified of Iran's nuclear plans in a confidential manner.

“We do not intend to make this plan known to the public and (IAEA)'s action is a breach of promise," the nuclear official said.

On January 16, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany started implementing the JCPOA which they reached on July 14, 2015.

Under the nuclear agreement, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program and provide enhanced access to international atomic monitors in return for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

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