Tehran, Nov 15 (IANS) Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Sunday that cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would not improve as long as the status quo persists.
Baghaei made the remarks at a weekly press conference in response to a confidential IAEA report released ahead of a meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors next week.
Baghaei said the IAEA had acknowledged that US-Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities disrupted the agency’s activities in Iran, but had failed to explicitly identify the “military aggression” as the principal cause.
“As long as this situation persists, we cannot expect a transformation in cooperation between Iran and the agency,” he said.
Baghaei also accused the IAEA of issuing one-sided reports, saying such an approach had harmed its reputation and credibility, Xinhua News Agency reported.
He added that Iran would remain committed to its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as long as it remained a party to the treaty.
He also rejected the demand by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that Iran should provide compensation for the damages, losses, and injuries resulting from its attacks on US bases and assets in West Asia.
Baghaei made the remarks in response to anti-Iran comments by GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi during a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Friday, convened at Bahrain’s request.
Albudaiwi said Iran had launched over 7,000 missiles and drones against Gulf states since February 28, and that the GCC holds Iran fully responsible for the attacks and their consequences. He listed the GCC’s demands to the UN Security Council, including “requiring Iran to provide full compensation for the damages resulting from its attacks in accordance with international law and Human Rights Council Resolution 61/1.”
Baghaei said that regional countries that “actively participated in the military aggression” against Iran and made available their territories for use by the “aggressors” cannot demand reparations.
The Iranian spokesperson said there is “clear evidence” that the losses and damages inflicted upon Iran directly or indirectly during the 40-day war originated from certain countries in the region, stressing that under international law and UN General Assembly Resolution 3314, “any country that has played a role directly or indirectly in the US-Israeli military aggression against Iran is considered an accomplice to the aggressors and bears responsibility for the crimes committed.”
He said Iran is the party demanding reparations and has carried out the necessary documentation in that regard.
Baghaei reiterated that Iran’s self-defense measures “were purely defensive in nature and targeted exclusively U.S. military bases and assets that had been used to launch attacks” against the country, stressing that Iran had taken no action against these countries’ sovereignty.
–IANS
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