Iranian Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi on Tuesday blasted the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying the organization was ignoring Iran's claims foreign agents planted uranium particles at nuclear sites inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency to make it look as if Tehran was developing nuclear weapons.
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"Instead of taking our claims of agents' Zionist bias into consideration due to irregularities in satellite imagery provided and the situation on the ground, the agency chose to doubt our claims that those same Zionist agents intentionally sabotaged our nuclear sites," Kamalvandi said.
"In addition, the Zionist regime's efforts to sabotage the various stages of the establishment and holding of negotiations toward a nuclear deal have been ignored by the IAEA director-general, who chose to quote a text straight from the Zionist entity to the European Parliament. It is clear to us that his conclusions were drawn a long time ago," the senior Iranian official said.
Mohammad-Javad Ardeshir Larijani, a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also spoke out against the IAEA on Tuesday and called to deny its Director-General Director-General Rafael Grossi access to various sites across Iran. He called for Iran to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
In an interview with the Tasnim news agency, Larijani said, "Due to the director-general of the organization's visit to the Zionist-occupied territories and his meeting with their senior officials, we conclude that this is an unprofessional and political move. I believe there are at least two things our parliament can do. The first is to ensure Grossi has limited access to various sites in Iran and the second is to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty should the International Atomic Energy Agency continue its conduct against us."
The IAEA Board of Directors, which convened on Monday to discuss the state of supervision in Iran, is expected to pass on the conclusions submitted by Western states that center on condemnations of Iran's failure to cooperate with IAEA officials.
According to a Reuters report, together with the US, the E-3 states of Britain, Germany, and France called on Iran to urgently act to fulfill its legal responsibility to respond to the director-general's offer to clarify and resolve all supervision issues.
Likewise, the countries emphasized their deep concern over the discovery of enriched uranium particles at three sites following Iran's unsatisfactory cooperation with the agency.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Directors Monday, Grossi said supervision of Iran's nuclear facility had been seriously damaged as a result of the Islamic Republic's decision to stop adhering to the nuclear accord.
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