Alwaght- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has inspected a site in Tehran which Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last year described as a “secret atomic warehouse” but it turned out to be a carpet cleaning facility.
Netanyahu claimed at the United Nations in September that the site housed 15 kg of unspecified radioactive material, citing it as testimony to his frivolous allegations that Tehran sought to obtain nuclear weapons.
The claim angered the International Atomic Energy Agency which has repeatedly confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program after many inspections. At the time, the agency said it does not take information presented to it at face value and sends inspectors “only when needed”.
On Thursday, Reuters quoted three diplomats familiar with the agency’s work as saying that IAEA inspectors have visited the site.
One of the diplomats said the IAEA had been to the site more than once last month, the news agency reported. The others said the agency had been there, without specifying when.
“We have nothing to hide and any access given to the IAEA so far has been in the framework of laws and regulations and nothing beyond that,” Reuters also quoted an unnamed Iranian official as saying.
Quarterly IAEA reports say its inspectors have had access to all the places in Iran they have needed to visit, which IAEA chief Yukiya Amano repeated in a speech on Tuesday.
Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the US, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.
Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.
Back in May 2018, the US president unilaterally withdrew his country from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and imposed what he called the “toughest” sanctions ever on the Islamic Republic. The move was condemned by other countries in the landmark deal and the international community.
