Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Reza Najafi made the remark on Thursday evening at the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, adding “the deal’s 130-ton limit on Iran’s heavy water stockpile is only an estimate, meaning technically that the amount can fluctuate between one or two percent higher than the estimated figure.”
“Even in regards to an ‘excess’ of heavy water, the only stipulated commitment in the JCPOA is that this amount must be offered up for export in international markets,” Najafi added, “and Iran has recently expressed its readiness to export its high-quality excess of heavy water to international buyers even in greater amounts.”
Najafi’s remarks were in response to Laura Holgate, the US ambassador to the IAEA, who argued that the 130 tons is a hard limit in a statement made during the IAEA Board of Governors meeting.
The Iranian ambassador further highlighted Iran’s resolve to meet commitments under the JCPOA and noted the IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano’s reconfirmation that the UN nuclear agency has verified the Islamic Republic’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the deal.
Najafi, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of commitment shown by other parties to the deal, saying “we are closely monitoring the implementation of commitments by the other parties to the JCPOA.”
He went on to address the Israeli representative’s speech at the meeting in regard to Iran’s nuclear deal, deeming the speech ‘repetitive’, ‘irrelevant’, and particularly ‘ironic’ coming from a regime that has never signed up to any international treaties banning weapons of mass destruction.
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