Iran Urges Amano to Preserve IAEA’s Independence, Impartiality

(FNA)- Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi urged the International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Yukiya Amano to avoid steps that could undermine the UN agency's independence and neutrality.

"Amano is expected to maintain the IAEA's independence," Kamalvandi said in reaction to Amano' decision to take part in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting to elaborate on the 'roadmap' agreed between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog to obviate concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.

He underlined that IAEA's independence and impartiality is of vital importance to Iran, and cautioned that Amano's remarks and behavior influence other country's impression of the IAEA's independence as well.

Kamalvandi referred to the recent roadmap of cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA, and said the agreement included step-by-step cooperation between the two sides to clarify past and present issues and end the long process and trail of the UN nuclear watchdog's questions from Iran.

"Based on the agreement, it was decided that the Agency raises all its questions in a short period of time and receives Iran's answers, and a ten-paragraph agreement was signed in Vienna to this end," he said in an interview with the state TV on Saturday night.

He said based on the agreement, Iran will provide the Agency with its answers by August 15 and the IAEA will end studying issues with regard to Iran's past nuclear activities by December 15.

"During all negotiations with the Agency, we emphasize our country's concerns and considerations about the protection of our confidential information and the methods used for (implementing) the agreed measures, and this was recently reiterated in a memo by Iran's permanent envoy to the IAEA after hearing the statements made at the US Congress," Kamalvandi said.

He said the IAEA's statute and safeguards agreements require the Agency to respect confidentiality with regard to the member states' classified information, yet given the legitimate concerns of Iran which are the result of its past experience, the necessity for keeping the country's information confidential has also been once again underscored in paragraph 10 of the recent agreement.

Asked about Amano's decision to visit the US to meet the senators on Iran's case, Kamalvandi said the UN nuclear watchdog has not informed Iran of the trip and Tehran was informed of the plan only through media and the IAEA's website.

In relevant remarks on Saturday, Iran's Envoy to the IAEA Reza Najafi objected to the US Senate's demand for being briefed about the contents of the recently signed roadmap of cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA, warning the UN nuclear watchdog to avoid disclosing its secret agreements with Tehran.

"The agreements signed between a member country and the IAEA are definitely secret and cannot be presented to any other country at all," Najafi said.

Referring to the discussions at the US Congress during which the US officials elaborated on the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany), he said, "The discussions revealed that the secret texts between Iran and the Agency have not even been provided to the US administration."

"For the very same reason, they cannot be presented to the Senate members either," Najafi added.

The envoy also said Tehran has already warned the IAEA chief against the repercussions of a disclosure of its agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog agency.

"Iran has clarified it to Amano that the text of its understanding with the IAEA cannot be presented to the Senate," Najafi reiterated.

He further warned that "the Agency knows what it means to disclose a secret document".

The Iranian envoy also cautioned Amano that he is duty bound now to accept possible invitations of other countries' legislatures after he accepted last night to attend a US Senate meeting.

Amano and Head of the AEOi Ali Akbar Salehi signed a roadmap of cooperation in Vienna on July 14.

The roadmap contains secret arrangements stated in one or two documents entailing on the methods to be used by the two sides in their cooperation.

Senior Iranian nuclear officials have said that all IAEA member stated have such secret agreements and the UN nuclear watchdog is duty bound to keep them secret to any third party individual or state.

After the roadmap was signed, Salehi announced that the new agreement would fully settle all unresolved issues pertaining to Tehran's nuclear activities in the past.

"All past issues will be resolved completely after Iran and the Agency adopt some measures," Salehi told reporters after signing an agreement called the Iran-IAEA Cooperation 'Roadmap'.

He said that all agreements, including the measures decided for Parchin military site, will be implemented with full respect to Iran's redlines.

Iran had earlier announced that inspection of the country's military sites are one of its redlines.

"I hope that a new chapter in relations and cooperation between Iran and the IAEA will start after the settlement of the past issues," Salehi added.

Salehi made the remarks in Vienna just a short time after diplomats acknowledged a sum-up agreement had been made between world powers and Iran.

In relevant remarks late July, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi said that Tehran and the IAEA have compiled a new roadmap to settle the issues related to Parchin military site in Iran.

"The issues related to the past which are wrongly described by the IAEA as Possible Military Dimensions (PMD) have been discussed between Iran and the IAEA and God willing, they will be resolved based on the new roadmap signed by Mr. Amano and Salehi (the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) and the arrangements made," Araqchi said.

"The road is in the same direction of the past agreements with a new roadmap and some related annexes which are Iran-IAEA documents and that's why they have not been released as no other country would release the documents that it has with the Agency," said Araqchi.