Envoy Censures IAEA for Turning Blind Eye to Israel’s N. Adventurism

This is a “bitter historical joke,” Qaribabadi said while pointing to negligence on the part of the IAEA toward the Zionist regime’s nuclear weapons program.

 “The Agency should not act in a way that it would be directly or indirectly supporting the political agenda of certain parties against others. Undoubtedly, this method of biased treatment of member states not only harms the nonproliferation regime but also reduces trust in the Agency’s professional activities and lowers cooperation between the Agency and its member states,” he said in his address to a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna on Thursday.

“Regrettably, this regime (Israel) ignores the international community by downplaying the importance of the (NPT), refusing to accept it, and... placing all of its nuclear facilities and activities under the Agency’s comprehensive safeguards regime,” the envoy stated.

“The Agency’s deafening silence over the assassination of nuclear scientists and the acts of terror and sabotage at Iran’s nuclear facilities, calls into question the Agency’s credibility and impartiality and arouses suspicion that it is a political organization rather than a professional one,” he remarked.

Qaribabadi said Iran will not only give a decisive response should such criminal actions, including the assassination of Iran’s nuclear scientist, reoccur, but also there will be no other way for Tehran but to reconsider its cooperation with the IAEA.

Iran’s ambassador lambasted the latest report on Iran’s nuclear program by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, saying that while Iran has been constructively interacting with the Agency, it is regrettable that the Agency’s secretariat has taken an unconstructive approach to Iran at the cost of damaging its own credibility.

He finally noted that the continuation of such an approach to Iran’s nuclear activities by the Agency can turn into an obstacle to future goodwill interactions between the two sides.

In relevant remarks in March, Qaribabadi criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for inaction towards the nuclear threat posed by Israel, stressing that Tel Aviv enjoys the advantages of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while it is has never signed the pact.

Israel enjoys more preferential advantages compared to the nuclear-armed states because the latter are NPT members and have special commitments, while Israel is out of it, is free of any commitments, and enjoys all the advantages of the Agency which are relevant to the NPT, Qaribabadi said on March 5.  

He said that all regional countries are members of the NPT and have committed themselves to accept the IAEA’s safeguards, adding, “Developing a secret nuclear weapon program by the Zionist regime is a serious persisting threat not only to the security and stability of the region and the world, but also for the effectiveness of NPT and the Agency’s safeguards.”

“Needless to mention, the Zionist regime is not a member of any of the other disarmament and WMD non-proliferation treaties,” the envoy noted, adding, “the nuclear capabilities of the Zionist regime and its threats have been put on the agenda of the UN General Assembly while the IAEA has issued several resolutions in this regard.”

“But the Zionist regime has neglected the international community by ignoring the NPT, avoiding to join it, and refusing to put its facilities and nuclear activities under IAEA’s safeguards inspections,” Qaribabadi stated.

He warned that such conditions have emboldened Israel to ridicule the IAEA authority and the mission for preventing deviation of materials and nuclear activities.  

“Most importantly, it has been so emboldened that it distorts realities and criticizes some of the NPT members, while they are committed but it is not,” the diplomat added.

He termed it ironic that the IAEA, its secretariat, Board of Governors, and general conferences all focus on NPT members, while ignoring the materials and the activities of the Zionist regime in the volatile West Asian region is a chronic strategic mistake.

“In such a condition, what is the advantage of being a NPT member and implementing the safeguards? How can the global community see the IAEA as a serious, professional, impartial partner while the comprehensive safeguards regime is not applied to its members identically and justly and it doesn’t even seriously discuss the necessity of verification and inspections of Israel’s nuclear activities? Does the silence about the Israeli nuclear deal not send a message to the NPT members that membership means accepting the strongest verification and monitoring systems and staying out of it means freedom of any commitments and even receiving bonuses?” he asked the IAEA.