Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh made the remarks in an interview with the Persian service of IRNA on Saturday, in reference to efforts made by Western media outlets to inflate IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s new report on Iran’s nuclear program published on Friday, which said that UN nuclear inspectors had found higher-grade uranium traces at the subterranean Fordo uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.
The IAEA report came a day after Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) concluded two days of negotiations in Baghdad, in which the two sides agreed to meet again in Moscow on June 18 and 19 to help resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
The Associated Press reported on Friday that the UN atomic agency had found evidence at Fordo that could mean the country had moved closer to producing the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles.
The report said that the IAEA has found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 percent at the Fordo enrichment facility.
Soltanieh said, “As mentioned in the IAEA report, this is a normal technical matter, which is being investigated by experts.”
“Raising such trivial and technical matters which also occur at other countries’ enrichment facilities reveals the political ends of certain media outlets,” he said.
Politicizing and creating a commotion about a technical matter in Amano’s new report illustrate that efforts are being made to undermine “constructive” atmosphere of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, he said.
According to Reuters, the UN watchdog report said that Tehran had told the UN agency that the presence of traces of highly refined uranium “may happen for technical reasons beyond the operator’s control.”
“The agency is assessing Iran’s explanation and has requested further details,” the IAEA report said.
The United States said the Iranian explanation could be correct and a leading U.S. expert said he saw nothing “nefarious” in the discovery.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “There are a number of possible explanations for this, including the one that the Iranians have provided. We are going to depend on the IAEA to get to the bottom of it.”
U.S. proliferation expert David Albright said he saw no reason for concern.
“I think they just did it as they were starting up the cascade (network of centrifuges). It is nothing special. It is not nefarious,” he told Reuters.
The IAEA report suggested it is possible that particles of uranium enriched to higher-than-declared levels may be the result of a technical phenomenon associated with the start-up of centrifuge cascades.
The IAEA report also said that Iran has increased its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium to around 145 kilograms in May from nearly 110 kilograms some three months ago.
The report showed that Iran had installed 368 enrichment centrifuges at Fordo in addition to the 696 already operating there, and had expanded lower-level enrichment at its main enrichment site at Natanz in central Iran.
Amano said on May 22 that he expects to sign a deal with Iran “quite soon” on the arrangements for further investigation into the country’s nuclear activities.
Amano made the remarks in an interview with reporters in Vienna upon his arrival from Tehran, where he held rare talks with Iranian officials on May 21 during his first trip to the country since he assumed the post on December 1, 2009.
According to AFP, Amano also stated, “A decision was made by me and Mr. Jalili to reach an agreement on the structured approach,” he said, referring to his discussions with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, who is the country’s chief nuclear negotiator.
Asked about the Parchin military site specifically, Amano said, “I have raised this issue of access to Parchin, and this issue will be addressed as a point of the implementation of the structured approach document.”
IAEA report proof of peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities
Soltanieh also said that Amano’s new report is another proof of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities and successes in the area of nuclear technology.
“The report (prepared) to be presented to the IAEA Board of Governors is in fact another historical document which proves that Iran’s nuclear activities are rightful and peaceful and that the claims about non-peaceful dimensions are baseless,” he said.
The agency’s new report on Iran’s nuclear energy program will be discussed during the next meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, which will be held in Vienna on June 4.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Soltanieh said that the report confirmed that Iran’s nuclear activities, particularly nuclear enrichment, are advancing successfully and continuously under the supervision of the IAEA.
The report also said that Iran has so far produced about six tons of 5 percent enriched uranium and 145 kilograms of uranium enriched to a purity level of up to 20 percent, he said.
“These statistics indicate our country’s successes in the areas of science and technology,” he said.
In addition, the Iranian ambassador said that the fact that Amano has described his recent visit to Iran as positive illustrates that Iran is responsibly cooperating with the IAEA.
AM/PA
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MNA
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