By IRNA,
Vienna : Iran’s IAEA envoy Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said Wednesday that the IAEA has never used the ‘non-compliance’ in reference to Iran’s case.
“The term can be used against a country only if inspectors are banned from activity, gathering information, taking samples and so on,” Soltanieh said during the NPT Review Conference and its Preparatory Committees in Geneva on Wednesday.
Soltanieh said neither IAEA inspectors nor the Agency chief have ever used such a word against Iran and in reality this shows that raising the issue in the UN Security Council by the US and a few European states was politically motivated.
The Iranian diplomat made the remark in reaction to claims by the US envoy at the session.
He said that Iran has throughout its nuclear activities been faithful to its commitments based on the NPT and, contrary to US claims, has been fully abiding by the Treaty.
He also recalled these states’ attempts at the IAEA Board of Governors and said, “All the resolutions presented to the Board of Governors by the US and a few countries contained the expression ‘the legally non-binding suspension on a voluntary basis is a confidence building measure’. How can non-binding and voluntary suspension justify reflection of the issue at the UN Security Council? We have made the US disappointed because there was the concept that referral of Iran’s nuclear case to the Security Council will lead to Iran quitting the NPT and added political pressures on it as a result.” He said that the Islamic Republic of Iran, however, has neither left the NPT nor suspended its nuclear activities.
It will not do so in the future either and that’s the policy the Islamic Republic of Iran will follow, he added.