Tehran, March 13: Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency calls on the IAEA fuel guarantee committee to draw up a legally binding document which would ensure fuel supplies for all member states without discrimination.
In an interview with ISNA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh dismissed Britain’s proposal on supplying nuclear fuel through the IAEA as illegal and politically motivated.
“This proposal seeks to set conditions such as ‘the nations whose nuclear issues are being discussed at the [IAEA] Board of Governors cannot be supplied with fuel,’” said Soltanieh.
“Western countries are trying to put forward proposals to offer limited guarantees for supplying fuel in order to temporarily resolve the lack of legally binding guarantees,” Iran’s IAEA ambassador underlined.
Soltanieh also said the West is trying to set the stage to keep developing countries from acquiring uranium enrichment technology.
He underlined proposals such as the setting up of a fuel bank at the IAEA would “not resolve any problems” when it comes to guaranteeing fuel supplies as they could result in the conclusion of agreements that are not binding in law.
He said while Britain’s proposal had been initially given to the IAEA Board of Governors in 2006, and was pursued by both London and Washington over the past few months it “was not approved with consensus at the Board of Governors,” which shows Britain’s diplomacy at the IAEA has been a failure.
——–Agencies