Nuclear chief: IAEA politicizing Iran nuclear work under Israeli pressure

Iran’s nuclear chief has slammed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for politicizing the country’s peaceful nuclear program under the Israeli regime’s pressure regardless of Tehran's extensive cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Iran Press on Tuesday in response to a question about a resolution, proposed by the US and its European allies, which was recently passed during a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s Board of Governors accusing Tehran of failing to fully cooperate with the agency.

He said Iran did not expect at all that such a resolution would be passed under the influence and political pressure of the Israeli regime.

The Iranian nuclear chief expressed hope that the UN nuclear watchdog would be released from the “Zionists’ captivity” so that the international prestige of the IAEA and its director general would not be undermined further more.

In yet another blow to the bleak prospects of reviving the JCPOA, the US, France, Britain, and Germany spearheaded a resolution at the IAEA’s Board of Governors on Wednesday, which accused Iran of not cooperating with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iran has denounced the resolution and blamed the US and its three European allies for the crisis created over its nuclear program, which was under an unprecedented level of inspections before Washington withdrew from the JCPOA.

The resolution was passed only few days after the IAEA’s chief Rafael Grossi traveled to Israel and met the regime’s hawkish Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Iran had previously warned that Grossi's visit to Israel ahead of the meeting of the Board of Governors was in contradiction with the agency’s principles of observing impartiality and maintaining its technical and professional status.

Grossi’s visit to Israel out of phase with IAEA impartiality, professionalism: Iran FM

Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone call with the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also criticized the Western-drafted resolution passed against Tehran’s nuclear program, saying the Islamic Republic still insists on reaching a “good, strong and lasting” deal with the P4+1 group of countries.

Eslami vehemently rejected the “political” allegations leveled over the past 30 years that Iran is seeking atomic bombs, saying such accusations have been orchestrated by Israel to impede Iran’s nuclear progress.

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Iran slams the recent US-E3 resolution passed at a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, but says it still insists on reaching a

Iran has always had full cooperation with the IAEA and allowed it to visit the country’s nuclear sites, the AEOI chief emphasized.

He reiterated that Iran provided the IAEA with clarifications regarding its nuclear activities as part of trust-building measures and as a sign of goodwill.

It is a completely false claim by Western and Zionist media outlets that Iran’s peaceful nuclear program pursues military objectives and seeks to build nuclear bombs, he said.

In Iran’s defense doctrine and national security doctrine, weapons of mass destruction have no place, Eslami added.

He said Iran cooperates with the IAEA within the framework of the Safeguards Agreements and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

There is no undeclared and hidden activity or undeclared sites in Iran, the nuclear chief added.

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