'Iran's nuclear activity is under IAEA's control'

The upcoming talks between Iran and IAEA will focus on political, juridical and technical aspects, Iran's Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh told Trend in an interview.

Last Friday,Soltanieh announced that the new round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the IAEA would be held in Vienna on May 13 and 14.

Soltaniyeh said that all of Iran's nuclear activity is under IAEA's control. He added that nuclear inspections are being carried out in Iran every week, without any problems.

"All inspections of Iran's nuclear reactors, and Natanz, Fordo nuclear power plants are being carried out on a regular basis, and there are no problems," Soltaniyeh noted. "For some years now Iran has been accused of having military dimensions in its nuclear program, yet we've been proving the opposite again and again".

Soltaniyeh underscored that the accusations on Iran regarding its nuclear program are baseless.

"While former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed El Baradei noted in his report that Iran has military objects, nuclear material was never proved to be there. And yet Iran is still being openly accused of pursuing nuclear goals," Soltaniyeh said.

"We will once again prove that these accusations are baseless. We've held two rounds of talks with IAEA already, and its important that both sides would know their roles," Soltaniyeh said.

Soltanieh said that Iran does not have any obligation to answer the IAEA's questions out of his commitments mentioned on Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, Iran and the Agency can schedule and agree on a framework to solve some doubts around Iran's nuclear activities.

Western suspicions about activities at Parchin date back to at least 2004, when a prominent nuclear expert assessed that satellite images showed it might be a site for research and experiments applicable to nuclear weapons.

IAEA inspectors did in fact visit Parchin in 2005 but did not see the place where the U.N. watchdog now believes the explosives chamber was built.

The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November that lent independent weight to Western fears that Iran is working to develop an atomic bomb, an allegation Iranian officials deny.

"At the upcoming nuclear talks, we will hold discussions with Mr. Yukiya Amano's assistant Director General for Policy Rafael Grossi, and his deputy Herman Nackerts, along with other officials. Hopefully the issue with Iran's nuclear program will be finally settled," Soltaniyeh said.


/Trend/