IRGC Reiterates: We Will Never Allow Inspections of Military Sites

Simultaneously, according to some, on the last day of Iran's nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group, Ramadan Sharif, spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), emphasized that this institution will "never" allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to inspect "military sites." Mr. Sharif also stated that a report by the Jordanian newspaper Al-Rai regarding the IRGC Quds Force's involvement in a plot to carry out an attack in that country is published with the aim of "Iranophobia, Shia-phobia, and IRGC-phobia." According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), the IRGC spokesman reiterated on Thursday, July 9, that Iranian officials will "in no way" allow the IAEA to inspect "military sites." Mr. Sharif added: "Furthermore, the IRGC will never grant such permission to inspectors." The potential "military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear program have been one of the unresolved issues between Iran and the IAEA. The agency seeks to inspect "suspicious" military facilities, but Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, has stated that he will not allow visits to these sites or interviews with Iranian nuclear scientists. Meanwhile, after a meeting between Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the IAEA, in Tehran with President Hassan Rouhani and Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, on Thursday, July 2, a five-member IAEA delegation also traveled to Tehran on Tuesday. After this delegation's visit, the IAEA announced on Wednesday that senior agency officials had made "further progress" in their negotiations in Tehran, but resolving the remaining issues requires further work. In the meantime, Abbas Araghchi, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, also expressed hope for progress in resolving this issue after Mr. Amano's visit to Tehran, emphasizing Iran's readiness to cooperate with the agency regarding the potential military dimensions of its nuclear program. The IRGC spokesman, in another part of his remarks, described the report by Al-Rai as "baseless" and stated that this report was published with the aim of "Iranophobia, Shia-phobia, and IRGC-phobia" as well as "diverting public opinion from the global Quds Day issue." Mr. Sharif added: "The Islamic Revolutionary Guards are more vigilant than to allow an incompetent person like the King of Jordan to make such claims about them." He emphasized: "About two weeks ago, a claim was made that an Iranian individual carrying weapons had been arrested in Bahrain; a claim that had no basis whatsoever." The state-run Al-Rai newspaper in Jordan had previously reported that security forces had arrested an individual named "Khalid Kazem Jassim Al-Rubaie" in the city of "Jerash" in that country along with 45 kilograms of explosives. According to this newspaper's report, the Quds Force, the IRGC's overseas branch, had "provided explosives to this individual." Earlier, Tareq Al-Hassan, the head of the police in Bahrain, on Thursday, June 18, had accused "proxy groups of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards of Iran" of attempting to carry out bombings in that country and Saudi Arabia.