Salehi: Number Of Visits By IAEA Inspectors To Iranˈs Nuclear Sites Increased Dramatically

Moscow, Feb 13, IRNA – Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday that the number of visits by IAEA inspectors to Iranˈs nuclear facilities has dramatically increased. Speaking to reporters, Salehi said that the Islamic Republic has fully cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Presently a number of IAEA inspectors are now staying in the city of Isfahan who will be replaced by new inspectors from time to time, he said. IAEA inspectors are always present in Iran and they have conducted 7,300 hours of inspection at Iranˈs nuclear sites and facilities, he said. Inspectors announce their visits two hours before their inspection and will visit nuclear sites and facilities without prior notice, he said. They have installed cameras at all Iranian nuclear sites and monitor them round the clock and they transmit images directly to Vienna without any problem, he said. On Parchin military site, Salehi said the site is not a nuclear site and IAEA has already inspected it, he said. On production of nuclear fuel, he said this is not something new. It is now for about three and a half years that Iran has sent a letter to IAEA to announce that it was producing 20 percent enriched uranium for Tehranˈs nuclear research center, he said. ˈThey assumed that Iran was unable to produce such fuel but now they believe that we are capable of doing so,ˈ he said. Currently, the fuel is now being produced under supervision of IAEA to meet demands of one million patients, he said. It is among the legitimate rights of Iran to make use of its potentials to meet its peopleˈs demands and the country has never breached international regulations or NPT protocol to this effect, Salehi said. On the next round of talks between Iran and G5+1, he said Almaty is to host talks between the two sides./end