Iran Protests 'Negative Points' in Recent IAEA Report

Reza Najafi, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), emphasized that the agency's final report on the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program in the past has 'some negative points that we reject.' Three days after the release of this report, Mr. Najafi stated on Saturday, December 14, to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) that one of these negative points from the Islamic Republic's perspective is the reports about 'conducting some studies related' to nuclear weapons. The IAEA officially stated in its final report on this issue that the Islamic Republic had attempted to develop a nuclear explosive device at least until the end of 2003, although these activities did not go beyond feasibility studies and scientific research. According to the IAEA report, some of these activities continued until 2009, but after that year, no credible evidence of activities related to the development of nuclear weapons in Iran has been found. Following the release of this report, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized that 'there was no doubt about Iran's military efforts in the past nuclear activities,' but 'preventing the Iranian government from producing nuclear weapons in the future is much more important than the ambiguous military dimensions of past nuclear activities.' The recent statements from Iran's representative to the IAEA come after he had implicitly expressed satisfaction with the report, stating that the 'only way' left is to close Iran's case at the IAEA Board of Governors. However, Mr. Najafi in his recent remarks insists that 'although the report overall indicates no diversion in Iran's nuclear program and disproves all claims over the past 12 years regarding the existence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, even some claims at that level are not confirmed.' He also promised that the Islamic Republic would 'soon provide a comprehensive written assessment of the Director General's report.' In this context, Israel has called for further investigations by the IAEA regarding Iran's nuclear program.