Envoy Dismisses IAEA Chief’s Comments on Iran Nuclear Program
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna slammed as ‘non-relevant’ the terms that director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has used for commenting on Tehran’s nuclear program.
In a post on Twitter on Sunday, Kazem Gharibabadi said, “Drawing self-made criteria such as ‘breakout’ and ‘significant quantity’ for countries which are enriching uranium under the IAEA’s surveillance is nonrelevant and has no status in the IAEA legal documents.”
His tweet came after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in an interview with Die Presse, “In the IAEA we do not talk about breakout time. We look at the significant quantity, the minimum amount of enriched uranium or plutonium needed to make an atomic bomb. Iran does not have this significant quantity at the moment.”
The Iranian ambassador asked if Grossi can tell “what is the number of SQ for N5 (five countries possessing nuclear weapons) and NNWSs (non-nuclear-weapon states) such as the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Argentina?”
“Better not to measure the activities under Safeguards in this way! Weapon/civilian grade material may be a better definition,” Gharibabadi added.
“There are more than 1,300 tons of HEU (highly enriched uranium) and 300 tons of Plutonium in the world and according to the SIR 2019, total SQ also amounts to 216448 (8 pct more since 2015). What a dangerous world we are living in?!” he added.
