A top Iranian nuclear official says the Islamic Republic will not allow any out-of-the-ordinary inspections of the country's nuclear facilities.
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Tehran observes all nuclear regulations, and will draw the line at any irregular checks on its nuclear facilities, said Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi in a televised program on national TV Wednesday.
“We have announced that we are a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and we have signed it… we are a member of the [the International Atomic Energy] Agency and we have signed and are implementing the Safeguards Agreement, therefore, there is no reason that they set special regulations for us,” Salehi said.
Salehi said that the IAEA has carried out more than 7,000 persons-hours of inspection at Iranian nuclear sites, adding that the IAEA’s cameras are monitoring Iran's nuclear activities round the clock.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the official said Iran is now capable of producing enough nuclear fuel for its reactors.
He also categorically rejected reports that Iran has agreed to ship its nuclear fuel to other countries, including Russia.
The Iranian nuclear chief also pointed out that Tehran and Moscow have signed protocols and agreements on further nuclear cooperation.
Salehi’s remarks come as Iran and the P5+1 -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany -- are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding standoff over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program before November 24.
Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block in the way of resolving the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the bans imposed on the country, and not the number of centrifuges or the level of uranium enrichment.
Tehran wants the sanctions entirely lifted while Washington, under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby, insists that at least the UN-imposed sanctions should remain in place. /SR
