Iran ready to increase cooperation if IAEA readjusts attitude

 Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that Iran is ready to increase cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency if it readjusts its attitude toward Tehran. 

Salehi, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, dismissed as “ineffective” the documents that IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano released on November 8, in which he said that Iran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb.  

According to the regulations, the IAEA is not allowed “to release documents against a country,” and such a thing is unprecedented in the history of the agency, he stated, according to Aftab News.  

The agency made a mistake when it published documents that lack authenticity, Salehi said, adding, “The agency’s chief did so under pressure from Western governments, and he will realize his mistake in the future.”       

“However, our efforts are to maintain our good relations with Amano. We view the agency as the only legal authority in regard to the nuclear activities of the member states and do not want damage to be done to its reputation. The disrepute of the agency will create a vacuum in regard to non-proliferation and will put it in danger. Our efforts are (aimed at) safeguarding the credibility of the agency. We hope that Mr. Amano will appreciate this very goodwill of Iran and the fact that Iran, despite all the pressures and injustices, is making efforts so that the agency’s reputation is not sullied,” he added.  

The Iranian foreign minister also said, “In future, we will see that the agency will modify its approach toward Iran, and it will have no other option. And we are ready to cooperate with the agency more than before on condition that the agency readjusts its attitude and acts according to the statute and safeguards agreement. In this case, we are ready to continue our cooperation as before or even increase our cooperation.”  

Elsewhere in his remarks, Salehi commented on the anti-Iran resolution that the IAEA Board of Governors adopted on November 18. 

“The adoption of the resolution was futile… The Non-Aligned Movement’s statement and the stances that certain major countries of the world adopted also put into question the agency’s report. This occurred. We regard this as a gesture of good faith until the agency corrects its behavior and adopts a fair and impartial attitude toward its members,” he said in conclusion. 

NAM issued a statement on November 18 expressing support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities. 

A number of international officials, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have also called for the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program to be resolved through diplomatic channels.