“It is the Western countries that insist Iran is pursuing a military nuclear program. This is while our nuclear energy program is completely non-military,” Ahani said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) closely monitors Iran’s nuclear energy work through cameras that have been installed at the country’s nuclear facilities and sites and record all activities around the clock, he added.
He noted that the IAEA has conducted 7,500 person/days of inspection, including nearly 100 snap inspections, of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran’s enriched uranium is immediately sealed by the UN’s nuclear agency after the product is taken out of centrifuges, the Iranian envoy explained, adding that no other signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would allow such inspections or demonstrate this level of cooperation with the IAEA.
Iran believes that it has shown its “goodwill and transparency” in this regard, Ahani pointed out, adding, “We are subject to misjudgment.”
Upon the IAEA recommendation, Iran referred to the US, Russia and France to buy the fuel needed for the Tehran Research Reactor, which requires 20-percent-enriched uranium to produce medical isotopes for cancer patients, Ahani said.
However, they responded that the conversion of 3.5-percent-enriched uranium and the production of fuel rods would take two years, he added.
The ambassador emphasized that Iran succeeded in producing the fuel in less than two years because it had concerns that the three countries may extend the time even further due to political reasons and a lack of resolve.
Iran decided to enrich uranium to the 20-percent level to provide fuel for Tehran's Research Reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients, after potential suppliers failed to provide the Islamic Republic with the required uranium.
In April 2012, Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereydoun Abbasi said that the enrichment of 20-percent uranium is done “based on our needs and once the required fuel is obtained, we will decrease the production and we may even totally shift it to the 3.5 percent.”
Ahani further emphasized that Iran has vehemently rejected claims that its nuclear energy program has military purposes, saying Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree (fatwa) two years ago on the prohibition of the production, proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons.
The Leader announced that the use of atomic weapons is a crime against humanity, the envoy reiterated.
On February 22, 2012, Ayatollah Khamenei also said the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons “a grave sin” from every logical, religious and theoretical standpoint.
The Leader described the proliferation of nuclear weapons as “senseless, destructive and dangerous,” adding that the Iranian nation has never sought and will never seek atomic bombs as the country already has the conventional capacity to challenge the nuclear powers.
Ahani further said that, in September 1974, Iran proposed an initiative to the United Nations on the establishment of a Middle East Free of Nuclear Weapons and has been following up on it insistently.
However, he added, it seems that everybody is overlooking such realities and no country is willing to acknowledge Iran as a responsible country and a signatory to the NPT that seeks to use its legal rights just as other IAEA members.
Tehran has always called for the use of peaceful nuclear technology under the IAEA's supervision, he emphasized.
The United States, Israel and some of their allies have falsely accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and European Union using the claim as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions against Tehran.
Iran has categorically rejected the allegation, noting that as a committed member of the IAEA and a signatory to the NPT, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.