Spokesman Rejects Report on CTBT’s Monitoring Activities in Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi dismissed as “untrue” a recent report that claims the US government has issued a permission to export monitoring equipment to Iran with the aim of intensifying supervision of Tehran’s nuclear program.
In a statement on Monday, Qassemi denounced contents of the report, published by Al-Monitor, as “distorted” and said the information it has provided on Iran is “untrue and unreal”.
“Iran has signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), but has not ratified it,” he said.
Accordingly, no active site is running and no monitoring equipment is operating in Iran under the CTBT.
“No information is being sent to the treaty’s secretariat,” he said, adding, “The secretariat of the CTBT has no monitoring activities in Iran either.”
Al-Monitor’s report claimed that the Donald Trump administration is “allowing high-tech US exports to Iran that could boost international oversight of the 2015 nuclear deal.”
“US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan signed a waiver that allows a Maryland-based company to export broadband networks, satellite dishes and wireless equipment to Iran for stations that monitor nuclear explosions in real time,” it added.
Al-Monitor claimed the monitoring equipment was requested by the CTBT, which oversees a global ban on nuclear test explosions.
It also claimed that the CTBT “officials have set up three sites in Iran to transmit explosion data back to Vienna, giving US and other policymakers a live, independent channel to watch the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activity.”
