Iran criticizes IAEA over EBW report

An official of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has criticized the UN nuclear body for its delayed release of the assessment of Iran’s exploding bridge wire (EBW) detonators.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the AEOI spokesman, said Saturday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was initially scheduled to release its assessment of the EBW information provided by Iran in May.

In its Friday report, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said Iran has implemented three of five transparency steps that it was supposed to take by August 25 in line with a roadmap agreed with the UN nuclear body last November.

The IAEA, however, added that Iran has been slow in providing the Agency with information about its past nuclear activities, including alleged experiments on explosives that could be used for military purposes and studies. Iran has repeatedly denied accusations of military dimensions in its nuclear activities.

Alluding to IAEA’s report, the Iranian official said Iran was not obliged to address IAEA concerns by August 25, adding, “We had no commitment to the three-month deadline because setting a timeframe for carrying out measures [Iran had agreed to do] could cause problems,” he said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran had earlier notified the IAEA that due to the complexity of the issues in question, it is not possible to fully implement the five recently agreed steps [between Iran and the IAEA] by August 25,” the official added.

In May, Iran and the IAEA held a technical meeting, during which they reviewed the progress made on the seven practical measures within their last November agreement. During the meeting, they also agreed to five more practical measures to be implemented in the next step for further cooperation.

The five steps include providing information about two issues that concern alleged experiments on explosives that could be used for military purposes.

AR/KA/SS