TEHRAN – Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, said on Monday that the Monday report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran’s nuclear activities shows the UN body’s full access to Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“The recent report shows that the Agency continues to have full access in Iran, and despite the cessation of parts of its commitments under the JCPOA, which is aimed at striking a proportional balance between the rights and obligations of all sides, it is still able to verify not only the implementation of the commitments, but also cessation of parts of them,” Gharibabadi told reporters, according to IRNA.

The IAEA reported on Monday that Iran was enriching uranium at its Fordow site and rapidly accelerating enrichment work.

“Since 9 November 2019, Iran has been conducting uranium enrichment at the plant,” said a quarterly report by the IAEA, Reuters reported.

Reacting to the report, Gharibabadi said, “Since the beginning, and after Iran was informed by the Agency of the questions about the specific location, it has agreed to enter into a very constructive and positive engagement with the Agency in order to clarify the situation and address the relevant questions.”

“With the utmost cooperation and clarification, Iran has also provided the necessary access for the Agency,” he added.

“As it was also emphasized by the Agency officials in different circumstances, the cooperation between Iran and the Agency on this issue is still ongoing,” Gharibabadi said. “Therefore, any attempt to prejudge and present an immature assessment of the situation would be aimed at distorting the facts for political gains.”

Last Wednesday, Iran started to inject uranium gas into centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear facility under the supervision of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog.

It was the latest move by Iran to reduce its nuclear commitments in retaliation to the U.S. exit from the 2015 nuclear deal and restoration of previous sanctions and adding news ones, including a ban on Iran’s oil export.

Iran started to partially reduce commitments under the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), exactly a year after the U.S. abandoned the deal and imposed the harshest ever sanctions on the country under the “maximum pressure” policy. At the time Iran announced that its “strategic patience” is over.

The measure was the fourth step by Iran since it began responding to Washington’s abandonment of the nuclear deal and an inaction by the remaining parties, including Europeans, to shield Iran from sanctions.

MH/PA