N. Official: Iran Not to Accept More Undertakings in Cooperation with IAEA

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran will continue cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but only within the framework of its present undertakings, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said here on Tuesday, stressing that Tehran may not accept any new undertaking in its ties with the UN nuclear watchdog agency.
"We have always had full cooperation with the agency and this full cooperation is still underway," AEOI Head Fereidoon Abbasi told reporters here in Tehran on Tuesday.

"We have cooperated with the international body and presented our information to the IAEA even beyond some standards of the agency," Abbasi noted.

"We cooperate (with the IAEA) within the limit of rules and standards on the condition that they respect our rights," the official reiterated, and added, "But, we will not accept additional undertakings."

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.