Iran Rejects Latest IAEA Accusations
Iran on Friday rejected a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claiming that the Islamic Republic has doubled the number of centrifuges used to enrich uranium in the underground site of Fordo. In its report, the IAEA noted that Iran is rapidly expanding capabilities of uranium enrichment despite Israeli or American threats of possible military action against site which is located near the city of Qom.
“To publish this report as Iran hosts the summit of Non-Aligned Movement is nothing but a political initiative to overshadow the Tehran meeting” , said parliamentarian Kazem Jalili , who was quoted by the ISNA news agency. “It seems that this report is a psychological war scenario because Iran has demonstrated its authority and its place at the top of the international arena,” added Jalili, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Affairs .
The quarterly report of the IAEA on Iran states that some buildings were destroyed and earthworks were carried out on in the military site as experts from agency wanted to inspect it. According to the report, Iran has 2,140 centrifuges at Fordo against 1064 in May, but the new centrifuges are yet to be operational.
In its report, the IAEA has also accused Iran of having “carried out activities” at Parchin site “that hinder significantly the ability of the agency to carry out effective inspections,” stressing that Tehran has removed suspicious traces. The Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has denied these accusations: “These statements have no technical basis. Experts know that they are mere pretexts and that we can not clean even one site. ”
The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius lamented on Friday the fact that Iran “has not advanced” on the nuclear issue and felt it was time to “strengthening sanctions.” “Currently the facts found do not go in [the] direction [required by the international community],” he added. “I hope Iran decides to change its position, but for now we have absolutely not seen it on the ground. We learned to be vigilant. “
