VIENNA, Feb 6: Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove surveillance cameras and agency seals from sites and nuclear equipment that go beyond minimal commitments to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by mid-February, the IAEA said on Monday.
In a confidential report to the IAEA board’s 35 member nations dated Monday, agency head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran also announced a sharp reduction in the number and kind of inspections IAEA experts will be allowed, effective immediately.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report confirms a formal notification announcement made by the Tehran government.
The atomic watchdog had on Saturday sent Iran to the UN Security Council, a move that opens the door to punitive measures over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran responded by saying it would stop voluntarily allowing short-notice, wide-reaching inspections, beyond what is mandated under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Tehran also said it would end a voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment, the fuel activity that also makes atom bomb material, which it had undertaken for talks with the European Union that have broken off.
“From the date of this letter our commitment on implementing safeguards measures will only be based on the NPT Safeguards Agreement” and not include previously ‘voluntarily suspended non-legally binding measures, including the provisions of the Additional Protocol’, the report by IAEA chief Mohmaed ElBaradei quoted the letter dated Feb 5 as saying.
Iran’s letter to the IAEA, from Dr E. Khalilpour, vice president of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said that from now on ‘verification activities should be scheduled only on the basis of the Safeguards Agreement’.
It added: “All of the agency’s containment and surveillance measures which were in place beyond the normal Agency safeguards measures should be removed by mid-February.”
US condemns ‘threats’: The White House on Monday condemned ‘threats and confrontation’ from Iran after Tehran said it would restart sensitive nuclear work.
“The actions and comments coming out of the regime only further isolate it from the rest of the world,” spokesman Scott McClellan said after Iran said it had formally notified the UN nuclear watchdog agency of its decision.
“The international community has spelled out very clearly the steps that the regime needs to take, and so far all we see is continued threats and confrontation rather than diplomacy and cooperation,” he added. —AP/AFP
