Najafi Calls for Protection of Iran's Secrets in Agency Reports

Reza Najafi, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Wednesday urged the Director General of the Agency to take necessary precautions to protect Iran's "technological and industrial" secrets in reports regarding the country's nuclear program. According to IRNA, in his speech at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday, Najafi referred to the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding the submission of quarterly reports on Iran's activities, stating: "In our opinion, the updated text of this report can still be shorter and should avoid presenting some unnecessary information." Iran and six world powers reached an agreement on July 14 last year to end the dispute over the country's nuclear program by significantly reducing Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international nuclear sanctions against the Islamic Republic. This agreement, known as the JCPOA, has been in effect since January of last year. According to the JCPOA, the IAEA is the monitoring body for the implementation of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the six world powers, and this body is supposed to provide a new report every three months regarding the activities, trends, and dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. The Iranian representative also added: "Furthermore, my country's delegation would like to remind once again that in addition to the provisions of the comprehensive safeguards agreement and Article 5 of the Additional Protocol regarding the protection of confidential information, the text of the JCPOA clearly requests the Agency to take all necessary precautions to protect commercial, technological, and industrial secrets, as well as other confidential information that is brought to its attention." He emphasized: "In this regard, the efforts of the Agency's safeguards department are commendable. However, as we approach an important stage in the implementation of the Additional Protocol regarding the initial declaration, these efforts must be doubled." Iranian officials have previously accused the IAEA of disclosing their "nuclear secrets." In another part of his speech, Najafi addressed the mutual commitments of Iran and the six world powers to implement the JCPOA, stating: "Although the results of the JCPOA in terms of cooperation with Iran have made progress and new agreements in various fields, especially in the areas of economy and trade, are being signed, the pace of their implementation is not sufficient." He added: "The group of P5+1 countries has a specific responsibility for the implementation of the JCPOA. Merely reading statements is not enough. They must demonstrate their goodwill in practice." Earlier, the foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and the EU's foreign policy chief issued a statement urging banks and traders not to overlook legal investment opportunities in Iran. However, Islamic Republic officials, while welcoming these statements, say that Iran has not yet reached "what it should" after the nuclear agreement with the six powers, and alongside statements, "practical actions" must also be taken. Previously, Abbas Araqchi, head of the implementation office of the Vienna nuclear agreement in Iran, had also reported that major European banks have not yet begun their "interactions" with Iranian banks, and only "medium and small" European banks are interacting with Iran.