Iran assured Wednesday, March 8 of its willingness to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to its ambassador, in the face of criticism from the West in the face of the “dangerous” nuclear escalation and the
repeated
“
promises
”
.
"
Iran is completely ready to work with Rafael Grossi
", the director general of the UN body, "
and to accomplish what was agreed upon during his recent visit to Tehran
", declared in an interview with the AFP Mohsen Naziri Asl, Iranian representative to the IAEA.
“
There are many things to do in the weeks and months to come
,” he added on the sidelines of the Board of Governors meeting this week at the headquarters in Vienna, calling for “
avoiding confrontation
”.
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"Additional (...) activities"
The Islamic Republic, which denies wanting to acquire the atomic bomb, has accepted “
additional verification and monitoring activities
” of its nuclear program, according to a joint press release published on Saturday.
According to Rafael Grossi, she undertook to reconnect the surveillance cameras on several sites but Iran remained unclear.
"
We have not specified the details, (...) the modalities must be discussed
", commented the ambassador.
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An increase in inspections was also decided at the Fordo underground plant, where uranium particles enriched to 83.7% were recently detected, a level close to the threshold for making an atomic bomb.
“
This unprecedented enrichment is an extremely serious escalation
”, without “
any credible civil justification
”, underlined before the Council France, Germany and the United Kingdom (E3).
If no resolution has been taken this time to condemn Iran, they reserve the right to act before the next Council in June.
These three states are parties, alongside Russia and China, to the 2015 agreement aimed at limiting the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
The same severe tone on the side of the United States, which left this pact in 2018 - known by its acronym JCPOA - at the instigation of Donald Trump but participated from 2021 in the unsuccessful negotiations to relaunch it.
"
Iran must guarantee that such an incident will never happen again
," said Ambassador Laura Holgate, denouncing "
an alarming development
".
“
It is time for Iran to really cooperate.
Unfortunately, on too many occasions in the past, he has made similar vague promises to avoid a resolution, without this being followed through
,” she lamented.