MP Cautions against Possible Leak of Information by IAEA Inspectors
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian legislator expressed concern that the confidential information obtained from the country’s nuclear facilities by the UN inspectors might fall into the wrong hands.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Iran on Saturday after the country issued the necessary permission for the UN nuclear watchdog's inspection of its Arak heavy- water production plant, and carried out an inspection of the nuclear facility on Sunday.
“In general, there is one concern about such inspections… that the information about our nuclear activities could be conveyed to the espionage organizations via the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors,” Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission’s rapporteur, told the Tasnim News Agency on Monday.
The lawmaker added that he was worried lest the confidential information could fall into the hands of the enemies’ intelligence agencies such as Mossad and the CIA.
Naqavi Hosseini said the information provided by Iran for the purpose of further transparency must not be shared with others and urged the IAEA to keep the information at the level of experts.
In the past Iran has upbraided the UN’s nuclear watchdog for leaks which, it said had enabled Israel to assassinate several of its nuclear scientists.
“Such assassinations indicate that the information that Iran had provided the international community with has been leaked to the enemies while countries should be able to confide in organizations like the International Atomic Energy Agency," said Kazem Jalali, a lawmaker, in early 2012.
Iran’s move to allow IAEA inspection of its nuclear sites is believed to be the first concrete step under a cooperation agreement signed last month between the Vienna-based UN agency and Iran to dispel concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program.
Under the IAEA Safeguards Agreement, Iran is not obliged to allow such inspections but Tehran has, on a voluntary basis, agreed to allow the agency's inspectors access to the Arak facility as well as the Gachin uranium mine in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.
Furthermore, Yukiya Amano, director-general of the IAEA, had announced earlier that his organization was looking into how the agreement between Iran and six world powers to restrict Tehran’s nuclear activity during the six-month framework could be “put into practice”, given the UN agency’s role in verifying the deal.
The IAEA plans to expand its monitoring of Iran’s uranium enrichment sites and other facilities under the interim accord, reached after marathon talks between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, on November 24. Iran has agreed to limit uranium enrichment and allow for more inspection of its enrichment and other related facilities in exchange for minor relief from UN and Western sanctions.
Tehran has agreed to the most intrusive inspection and monitoring regime ever imposed on a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), as it will allow the IAEA to inspect daily its facilities in Natanz and Fordow. For the first time, the country would also allow inspection and monitoring of its centrifuge manufacturing facilities and its uranium mines and mills.
The Arak facility produces heavy water intended for use in a nearby research reactor that is under construction. As part of its agreement with the powers, Iran is to halt installation work at the reactor and stop making fuel for it.
