Saudi Arabia calls on Iran to fully cooperate with UN nuclear watchdog

Saudi Arabia calls on Iran to fully cooperate with UN nuclear watchdog
November 8, 2019, 11:03 am

The flag of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) waves in front of the IAEA building in Vienna. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia has affirmed its support and appreciation for the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and its inspectors’ professionalism and high transparency.

According to the report by Saudi Press Agency (SPA) from Vienna, this came in a speech delivered by Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Ambassador to the Republic of Austria and the Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and international organizations in Vienna.

The special session of the IAEA Board of Governors was held on Thursday concerning the implementation of the safeguards agreement under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Additional Protocol in Iran.

Prince Abdullah indicated that the Deputy Director-General’s briefing on Iran dealt with its delay in providing adequate information consistent with the results of testing samples taken by the IAEA from an undisclosed site where nuclear materials were detected and this site has been cleared before being visited by the IAEA inspectors without providing any logical explanations identical to the analysis and testing of the samples during the last 11 months.

In his speech, Prince Abdullah expressed the Kingdom’s condemnation of Iran’ ongoing pursuit of this approach. He said the Iranian regime’s history is replete with deception and evasion, including the concealment of sensitive parts of its nuclear program, which undoubtedly confirms Iran’s non-peaceful program and its ambition to possess nuclear weapons.

Prince Abdullah also expressed the Kingdom’s happiness at the arrival of the detained inspector from Iran to the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, noting that the complacency in taking deterrent measures and actions against Iran for its actions against persons enjoying the privileges and immunities being guaranteed to them by international treaties inside the Iranian territory, will encourage its regime to repeat them in the future, especially in light of its record of such violations and lack of respect for international conventions and norms.

The Saudi envoy to the UN also stressed the need to call on Iran to fully cooperate without delay with the IAEA in providing the information required, and to respect the immunities and privileges of IAEA inspectors, in addition to providing the appropriate conditions for them to do their work properly.

Prince Abdullah also called on the Agency to intensify verification and monitoring efforts in Iran in order to unveil more information concerning its nuclear activities, and any other undeclared sites that Iran is likely to use in this regard, especially in light of hostile policies towards the countries of the region and the world at large, and its tendency towards expansion and domination.

No sign of new cabinet as Lebanese leaders meet, bank curbs continue Iraqi forces kill 10 protesters in Baghdad and Basra