Iran Criticizes IAEA's Quarterly Report

Iran criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) quarterly report, calling it a "repetition of previous reports" regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities and described discussions about the potential military dimensions of its nuclear program as "baseless." The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Friday, June 8, quoting Reza Najafi, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, stating: "The repetition of previous accusations regarding PMD (potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program) only indicates the ineffectiveness of this section of the Agency's report." He added, "Comparing this report with previous reports once again shows that the Agency has nothing new to present regarding the implementation of safeguards in Iran and is merely repeating the contents of previous reports, which, although their numbers have changed, still concern the same previous topics." The IAEA's quarterly report was presented to its members on Friday, which Reuters obtained, stating that the Agency still seeks answers from Iran regarding access to the Parchin military site, where Western countries suspect Iran has conducted tests related to nuclear bomb production. However, Reza Najafi dismissed the PMD discussion as "unfounded," stating: "The Agency has once again reiterated this in a section of its report, which from Iran's perspective, not only does not add credibility to these claims but indicates their ineffectiveness, especially since it attempts to consider normal activities at a site, such as the movement of a few vehicles, as developments, as if because spy satellites are focused on a specific location, Iran should cease ordinary and daily activities there, which is, of course, a false notion." The Islamic Republic has previously emphasized that it will not allow visits to its military sites. Nevertheless, the Director General of the IAEA has noted that visits to Iran's military sites should be part of a potential nuclear agreement between Iran and global powers. The IAEA's report on Friday also mentions that Iran has provided information regarding one of the issues that the Agency wanted to investigate.