Iran and IAEA's Response to AP Report on Secret Agreement

While an Iranian official described the Associated Press report on the details of a secret agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as 'speculation', the Agency announced on Thursday that it is 'legally' required to keep these details confidential, but its agreement with Tehran is consistent with the Agency's requirements. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday, August 28, that it had obtained a draft document indicating that under the secret agreement between Iran and the IAEA, Tehran is allowed to use its own experts to inspect the disputed Parchin facilities. In response to this report, Reuters quoted an IAEA spokesperson on Thursday, who, when asked whether Tehran is permitted to inspect Parchin itself, stated that the organization is 'legally' obligated to keep its arrangements and agreements with Tehran 'confidential'. However, IAEA spokesperson Serge Gas stated in his statement that 'the separate arrangements outlined in the roadmap are consistent with the Agency's verification methods and requirements.' This UN agency also said on Thursday that it is satisfied with the level of access it is set to have to the Parchin military site. According to the 'roadmap' signed on Tuesday, July 23, just hours before the official announcement of the comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group, both sides announced that they had reached a 'separate agreement' regarding the Parchin military site. However, the version of this new roadmap published on the same day did not mention any details of this 'separate arrangement'. In this context, Behrouz Kamalvandi, Deputy and Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, also described the Associated Press report as 'speculation' and stated that the Agency has remained committed to its obligation to keep the documents of the bilateral agreement between Tehran and the Agency 'confidential'. He added, 'The Agency has so far adhered to its commitments regarding the confidentiality of documents and information of the bilateral agreement with our country, and no action indicating a violation of these commitments has taken place.' According to Mr. Kamalvandi, in the cooperation program between Iran and the Agency to resolve past issues, the Islamic Republic's 'considerations' have been taken into account, and this program is progressing well. He emphasized, 'For this purpose, within the framework of initial actions, we provided information related to the questions raised by the Agency by the deadline of August 15, which the Agency also announced in a statement.' The IAEA announced on Saturday, August 24, that it had received Iran's information and documents regarding the remaining issues of the country's past nuclear program. Despite both sides emphasizing the confidentiality of the Iran-IAEA roadmap, in recent weeks during question-and-answer sessions of several Senate and House committees with U.S. government officials, some representatives and senators revealed that according to a clause of this 'roadmap', sampling from the Parchin site is the responsibility of Iran. Following the publication of the Associated Press report on Wednesday, a group of U.S. Congress members criticized this 'agreement' between Iran and the Agency, but the U.S. State Department rejected concerns regarding the published report on Wednesday.