VIENNA: Western countries hit out at Iran here yesterday over its refusal to disprove allegations of past nuclear weapons work and for pursuing uranium enrichment in defiance of UN demands.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on its six-year investigation into Tehran’s contested nuclear drive “presents a decidedly bleak picture,” German Ambassador Ruediger Luedeking told a closed-door session of the IAEA’s 35-member board.
“Iran continues to defy the requests of the international community. It continues to disregard its legally binding obligations under the relevant Security Council resolutions as well as the requirements placed upon it by the board of governors,” Luedeking said, speaking on behalf of the so-called EU-3 of France, Germany and Britain.
The UN Security Council has slapped three rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can be used to make the fissile material for a nuclear bomb. Indeed, Iran has recently installed additional cascades of uranium-enriching centrifuges, bringing the number up and running to close to 4,000, and was testing more advanced centrifuges as well.
“Far from inspiring confidence, Iran’s violations of obligations undermines confidence and deepens suspicions,” Luedeking said.
Iran has consistently dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and the documentation used to back them up as “fabricated.” But the IAEA insists the onus is on Iran to disprove the allegations. Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, complained that Iran had not been allowed to see any of the documentation supposedly backing up the allegations.
“How come we can question a country without giving authentic documents? A member state is accused by another member state, but that member state has not given any documents or evidence,” he told reporters. “We have been too good, too transparent and too cooperative,” he said.
