The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will make its own decisions about what to inspect in Iran, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said yesterday after Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded a visit to an alleged nuclear warehouse.
Netanyahu, who opposes the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that the International Atomic Energy Agency is policing, made the statement in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week. He urged the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog to visit the site in Tehran. A U.S. State Department official later seconded that call.
"The agency sends inspectors to sites and locations only when needed. The agency uses all safeguards relevant to information available to it but it does not take any information at face value," IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said in a statement yesterday, as reported by Reuters.
Amano's statement made no specific reference to Israel or the statement but it is his first public pronouncement since Netanyahu's speech. He said the IAEA has carried out so-called complementary access inspections, which are often at short notice, at all locations in Iran it has needed to visit.
"All information obtained, including from third parties, is subject to rigorous review and assessed together with other available information to arrive at an independent assessment based on the agency's own expertise," Amano said.
"In order to maintain credibility, the agency's independence in relation to the implementation of verification activities is of paramount importance," he added.
IAEA inspectors are present in Iran continuously, and they have so far found that the Islamic Republic sticks to the pact. Before the Tehran warehouse allegations, Netanyahu had stated in April that Israel uncovered a hidden trove of technical information related to nuclear weapons in Iran. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to scale down its nuclear activities and submit to IAEA inspections in exchange for relief from sanctions. Israel bitterly opposes the deal and congratulated U.S. President Donald Trump for walking away from it earlier this year. The IAEA has repeatedly said that Iran is continuing to meet its commitments under the deal.
