Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stressed the “important responsibility” of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in keeping the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
Rouhani made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting in Tehran with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, reports Xinhua news agency.
“In addition to its technical and specialized duties regarding the Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol, which Iran is implementing voluntarily, the IAEA has an important responsibility, too, with regards to the JCPOA and the preservation of this multilateral agreement,” Rouhani said.
The deal is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
The meeting between Rouhani and Grossi took place after an agreement was reached between Iran and the IAEA to allow the agency’s inspectors access two requested locations inside Iran, after a two-days visit by the Director General.
The President hailed the accord as a “good agreement” and considered it “very important” that the IAEA acts in an independent, impartial, and professional way.
“The agency should pay attention to a very important point, that is Iran has sworn enemies that are always seeking to create problems for us,” Rouhani said, adding “those enemies are the ones that both possess nuclear weapons and refuse to work with the IAEA”.
He also underlined the importance of the JCPOA for Iran and the 5+1 group of signatories, saying the 2015 nuclear deal “brought about tranquility for the whole region and the world”.
“The US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 for no good reason,” according to Rouhani, but the Americans have now “well realized that what they did was not a good move”.
For his part, the IAEA Director General voiced satisfaction with the agreement reached with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).
Grossi stressed the need to boost Iran-IAEA cooperation, and said the cooperation should not be affected by foreign voices.
“All issues, as well as technical and professional issues, will be solved through cooperation between Iran and the Agency,” he added.
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