Iran's Foreign Ministry Threatens Ahmadinejad with Legal Action

Iran's Foreign Ministry has labeled a statement from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office, which claimed that the previous government did not allow interviews with Iranian nuclear scientists by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as "spreading falsehoods" and warned that it would pursue the matter legally. Earlier, a letter from Ahmadinejad's office, published by the Fars news agency, referred to Mohammad Javad Zarif's statements regarding the previous government's permission for interviews with nuclear scientists as "absolute falsehood." On June 4, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, stated that "the previous government issued this permission and interviews were conducted with our nuclear scientists by IAEA agents." Ahmadinejad's office claimed that the "definite policy" of the ninth and tenth governments was a "ban" on any interviews. According to the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, a statement released by the Foreign Ministry's public relations referred to the information from domestic responsible institutions and also to the official reports of the IAEA, which are accessible on the agency's website. Some media outlets in Iran have also published reports confirming the statements of Iran's Foreign Minister. For instance, the Shargh newspaper referenced comments from Ali Larijani, Saeed Jalili, and Ali Asghar Soltanieh, former heads and members of the negotiating team regarding the nuclear program, which addressed the issue of interviews with Iranian nuclear researchers. The Entekhab website, another domestic media outlet, published excerpts from IAEA reports, indicating that interviews took place during the ninth and tenth governments, including in 2005 or 2007, where sections of the agency's reports discussed interviews with Iranian officials related to the country's nuclear program. On the other hand, the Tasnim news website reported, citing an unnamed informed source, that the groundwork for the interviews was laid before Ahmadinejad's government took office. Following the assassination of several Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years, some members of parliament and principlist figures accused IAEA inspectors of providing information about them to espionage organizations. The IAEA has officially denied the allegations, stating in some cases that it did not know the individuals who were killed. In this context, managed inspections of Iran's military sites have been "accepted," and a closed session of parliament was held with the presence of Zarif and Araqchi. Zarif stated that the previous government allowed the IAEA to interview Iranian nuclear scientists, while Araqchi emphasized that nothing other than legal procedures would be accepted. Ahmadinejad's office has called Zarif's claims about interviews with nuclear scientists false.