Iran confirms that the Karaj facility is not covered by the understanding with the IAEA
Amman Today
publish date 2021-09-27 11:11:15
Iran confirmed, through its ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, that the Karaj facility for manufacturing centrifuges is not covered by the understanding with the International Atomic Energy Agency, in response to the latter’s announcement on Sunday that its inspectors were prevented from entering it.
And the Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement that its inspectors were prevented from entering the facility near Tehran, in what it considered a violation of an understanding concluded with Iran this month to allow the replacement of surveillance equipment.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Tehran’s ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, including the IAEA, wrote on Twitter at dawn Monday, “During discussions in Tehran and Vienna, Iran made it clear that since the Tissa Karaj complex is still subject to security and judicial investigations, the equipment associated with this complex is not covered ( Understanding about (maintenance).
He stressed that the IAEA’s report was “inaccurate and goes beyond the terms agreed upon in the joint statement” between the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization and the IAEA during the visit of its Director-General Rafael Grossi to Tehran on September 12.
Gharibabadi stressed that the joint statement between the two parties issued on that day “was based on Iran’s good intention to replace memory cards for ‘specific equipment’.” These activities were carried out by the agency between September 20 and 22.”
Grossi had confirmed in a statement on Sunday that “all activities of the agency mentioned in the joint declaration, on all equipment, all facilities and all Iranian sites, are necessary to maintain the continuity” of its oversight mission.
The Karaj facility, a city west of Tehran, is dedicated to the manufacture of centrifuges used for uranium enrichment. On June 23, Iran announced that it had thwarted a “sabotage” operation targeting a building belonging to the Iranian Energy Organization, which local media reported at the time was the Karaj facility.
Gharibabadi reiterated his country’s criticism of the agency’s failure to condemn attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying, “It is deeply regrettable that after three terrorist attacks in a year on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the IAEA has not yet condemned them.”
In addition to the Karaj facility, Tehran announced that the Natanz (center) uranium enrichment facility had been exposed to two accidents in July 2020 and April 2021, hinting at the involvement of its enemy Israel in this.
As of February, Iran restricted the work of UN inspectors, against the backdrop of the continuation of US sanctions imposed on it since Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018, from the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.
Under this restriction, Iran will keep records of surveillance equipment and cameras placed in nuclear facilities, and will not hand them over to the agency unless US sanctions are lifted.
Grossi said this month that the understanding to maintain this equipment “gives time for diplomacy,” in reference to negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement concluded in Vienna in 2015, which allowed the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran, in exchange for restricting its nuclear activities.
Iran and the parties to the agreement, with indirect American participation, held talks in Vienna to revive the agreement by returning the United States to it and lifting the sanctions that it re-imposed after its withdrawal, in exchange for Tehran’s return to fully respecting its obligations under it, which it had abandoned implementing the majority of in response to the American withdrawal.
Six rounds of talks took place between April and June, with no date set for their resumption.
AFP
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Source : ألدستور