The Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia made accusations against Iran's nuclear program at the 65th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday, which sparked the reaction and criticism of Iran's First Counselor to Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Khodayar Rouzbahani.
Repeating his government's previous claims against Iran's nuclear program, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al Saud expressed concern over Iran’s lack of transparency regarding its nuclear program during his address to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting on Monday.
In response, the Iranian diplomat at the IAEA said that Iran fully and honestly implements its comprehensive safeguards agreement and firmly believes that if the comprehensive safeguards are not fully implemented, be it by Saudi Arabia or by the Israeli regime it must raise the alarm.
Rouzbahani also said that Iran, the IAEA, and the international community would be very happy if Saudi Arabia and others in the Middle East could abide by the same safeguard commitments that Iran does.
He also noted that those regimes need to join the NPT or have a special safeguards agreement with the IAEA in order to ensure the international community about their nuclear programs.
Rouzbahani said that Saudi Arabia is in no position to accuse Iran's nuclear program while it is still implementing the old edition of the small quantities protocol (SQP) and, as a result, it is preventing the IAEA from monitoring and verifying its nuclear program comprehensively.
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