"We are ready to cooperate with the IAEA without compromising our national security… provided that we are convinced that efforts are aimed at finalizing Iran's nuclear case, not pursuing a futile process,” IRNA quoted Ali Asghar Soltanieh as saying in Vienna on Thursday.
Soltanieh made the remarks in response to the IAEA's latest resolution on Iran's nuclear energy program.
The non-binding resolution, which was passed by the IAEA Board of Governors without consensus earlier in the day, expressed “serious concern” over Iran's nuclear energy program and stated that diplomacy is the only way to resolve the West’s dispute with Iran over the program. Cuba voted against the resolution, and Egypt, Ecuador, and Tunisia abstained.
The Iranian envoy reiterated that Tehran “will never compromise regarding its inalienable right to peaceful nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment.”
He also criticized politicization of Iran’s nuclear energy program, saying that the country’s nuclear file remains open due to unfounded allegations made by a few Western countries
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear energy program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
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