US Mounting Pressure on IAEA over Inspection of Iran’s Military Sites
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Friday pressed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to seek access to Iranian military bases.
“We are encouraging the IAEA to use all the authorities they have and to pursue every angle possible” to verify compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, Haley told a news conference after returning from a trip to the Vienna-based UN agency, Reuters reported.
She visited the UN nuclear watchdog’s headquarters as part of US President Donald Trump’s review of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), made by former President Barack Obama.
“The JCPOA made no distinction between military and non-military sites. There are also numerous undeclared sites that have not been inspected. That is a problem,” Haley claimed.
Iran's top authorities have flatly rejected giving international inspectors access to their military sites, and Iranian officials have stressed that any such move would trigger harsh consequences.
In May 2015, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed that Iran will not allow the inspection of its military sites.
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri has also made it clear that any access to the country's military sites or information would run counter to Iran’s security and public demands.
Recently, Head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati slammed the US notion of inspection of Iran’s military centers as absolute nonsense, stressing that the country would never allow Americans to have access to its security sphere.
In separate comments, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh underlined that foreign countries will never be allowed to inspect Iran’s military centers.
