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Iran slams IAEA chief's remarks on nuke issue
Iran says it could put the "neutrality" of the organisation into doubt.
Iran has slammed UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammad ElBaradei for his remarks that he couldn't confirm whether Tehran's nuclear programme is peaceful, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran says it could put the "neutrality" of the organisation into doubt.
Alaeddin Borujerdi, MP, said on Sunday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head in his interview to Newsweek had "diverted" from the IAEA's "legal mandate" which could weaken the organisation.
Borujerdi, the Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee chairman, said Iran expects the IAEA to adopt stances within the framework of its technical and scientific mandate and announce its positions in a neutral and non-politicised manner.
ElBaradei, in the interview to be published in Newsweek's upcoming issue, says: "If they (Iran) have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponisation programme along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon."
"For the last three years we have been doing intensive verification in Iran, and even after three years I am not yet in a position to make a judgment on the peaceful nature of the [nuclear] programme," ElBaradei says.
Noting that ElBaradei had praised Iran for its compliance with IAEA regulations in November 2004, Borujerdi stated that the IAEA director general should have praised Iran in his recent interview as Tehran has "sincerely cooperated with the IAEA and allowed 1,400 man-hours of inspections, despite the fact that the Majlis has not even approved the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."
He said the Islamic Republic still wants to continue cooperation with the IAEA because it assumes that the IAEA's position has not changed.
"With (his) 10 years of experience, we did not expect ElBaradei to talk in a way that compelled the Newsweek interviewer to ask him whether he is angry or not as the last question."
Iran broke UN seals on its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility last week, insisting its nuclear programme was peaceful and it has the right to restart its facilities in accordance with international law.
But several Western countries, including the US, fear Tehran is intent on developing a nuclear bomb.
The European Union trio of Germany, France and Britain - negotiating with Tehran over the nuclear issue - last Thursday called for an emergency session of the IAEA to vote on referring Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council, which could lead to sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The US has expressed support to the EU call of referral but ruled out military action against Iran.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government has made provisions for constructing two nuclear power plants in the budget for the next Iranian calendar year, starting March 21.
Farhad Rahbar, chairman of the Management and Planning Organisation (MPO), said an amount of 1.956 trillion rials (approximately $217.4 billion) had been allocated for the two plants.
