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Iran will not permit IAEA to take environmental samples
Tehran, June 21: Iran today said it would continue to block the UN nuclear watchdog from taking environmental samples at a particular site, setting the stage for confrontation with the world body.
Tehran, June 21: Iran today said it would continue to block the UN nuclear watchdog from taking environmental samples at a particular site, setting the stage for confrontation with the world body.
The refusal announced by Iran`s nuclear chief on state television indicated a sudden hardening of attitude toward the International Atomic Energy Agency. Yesterday the country said it welcomed the comments of the IAEA board meeting in Vienna and earlier this week it said it was "studying positively" an IAEA report on Iran.
The head of the IAEA, Mohamed Elbaradei, called Monday for Iran to allow the agency "to take environmental samples at the particular location where allegations about enrichment activities exist." Agency inspectors were turned away from a site at Kalaye, west of Tehran, last week after they came to take environmental samples. Iranian officials have never publicly disclosed what the Kalaye site is used for, but the country is suspected of testing nuclear centrifuges there.
In its nightly news bulletin today, Iranian television said the head of Iran`s Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, would not permit environmental sampling at "some locations." It did not name the locations. "We`ve had no problem concerning environmental samples, but we`ve been telling the IAEA that this location is not a nuclear location, so that if you want take environmental samples, this is outside the framework of the protocol," Aghazadeh said. He did not identify the location.
Bureau Report
The head of the IAEA, Mohamed Elbaradei, called Monday for Iran to allow the agency "to take environmental samples at the particular location where allegations about enrichment activities exist." Agency inspectors were turned away from a site at Kalaye, west of Tehran, last week after they came to take environmental samples. Iranian officials have never publicly disclosed what the Kalaye site is used for, but the country is suspected of testing nuclear centrifuges there.
In its nightly news bulletin today, Iranian television said the head of Iran`s Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, would not permit environmental sampling at "some locations." It did not name the locations. "We`ve had no problem concerning environmental samples, but we`ve been telling the IAEA that this location is not a nuclear location, so that if you want take environmental samples, this is outside the framework of the protocol," Aghazadeh said. He did not identify the location.
Bureau Report