IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said on Thursday that his inspectors in Tehran are enduring pressure but he failed to indicate what kind of duress they might be under, saying the situation was not easily explained.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has its inspectors in Iran monitoring the Iranian nuclear program. The West has fears that Islamic Republic authorities might be aspiring to nuclear weapons, but Iran has continuously stressed that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons and that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Israel has made several overtures that it would attack Iran to make sure it does not achieve the capability to build nuclear weapons.
Iran’s nuclear envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, was quoted as saying today that an attack on Iran could lead to Iran’s withdrawal from the Non-proliferation Treaty.
Iran has maintained that as an NPT signatory, it has a right to enrich uranium to produce fuel for its nuclear reactor.
The U.S. and the EU have called for an end to Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and have imposed severe sanctions on Iran to make it more amenable to their demands.
Soltanieh said: “There is a possibility that the (Iranian) Parliament forces the government to stop the (UN nuclear) agency inspections or, in an even worse scenario, withdraw from the NPT.”
While the IAEA has not found any evidence that might indicate that Iran is pursuing nuclear arms, Amano has held to the position that it cannot guarantee that Iran’s nuclear program has no military component.
The IAEA wants to inspect Iran’s Parchin military base, but Iran has so far denied the request, saying Parchin is not connected with its nuclear program. Iran has said that letting foreign inspectors visit a military base may not be in the interests of the country.
