Tasnim – International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano said the UN nuclear watchdog would seek access to Iran’s military sites if the need arises.





“When we identify the need, we seek access to the locations. We don’t make a difference between civilian and military locations, (but) we don’t discuss details of where we go,” Amano told Los Angeles Times when asked if the IAEA would inspect Iran’s military facilities.

He added, “We are a technical organization and I am discharging my responsibilities based on rules, based on the IAEA standard safeguards practice. We simply keep on working and monitoring and verifying the nuclear-related commitments made by Iran under the (nuclear deal) in an impartial, objective and professional manner. So whatever happens, we keep on working.”

Referring to various reports produced by the IAEA on Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal, he said, “The information collected by inspectors must be kept confidential. These people (critics) complain that they don’t have information related to Iran, but they don’t have information about Germany, Japan or Kenya either. It’s like a doctor. People go to a doctor with the understanding that he won’t disclose sensitive information.”

The IAEA is tasked with monitoring Iranian compliance with the deal, a basically technical matter that falls within the agency’s area of expertise. The IAEA has consistently verified that Iran is in compliance since the deal started being implemented in January 2016.

Senior Iranian officials have repeatedly underlined that foreigners would never be given access to the country’s military bases, deriding the notion that the UN nuclear watchdog sees no distinction between civilian and military sites in its inspections as a figment of Yukiya Amano’s imagination.