Dr. Akbar Etemad, the founder and first president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) from 1974 to 1978 has said that Iran has a right not to implement the additional protocol to the NPT.

 

“At the peak of tension in Iran-West relations it is hard to imagine why Iran should implement the additional protocol and allow the (International Atomic Energy) Agency inspectors to visit anywhere they want. This is a kind of interference in Iran’s internal affairs” he said in a program on Press TV.

 

He said, “We should not forget that the agency has asked on several occasions to inspect Iran’s military sites while other countries have never opened such sites to inspectors. They are seeking to push Iran to sign this protocol but I think that Tehran has a right not to sign it because Iran signed the (nuclear) safeguard agreements but it did not help it, therefore why should it sign the additional protocol. This will never help ease the current situation.”

 

Commenting on Mohamed ElBaradei’s record as the IAEA director general, Etemad stated that ElBaradei pressured atomic states to dismantle their nuclear arsenals.

 

On several occasions ElBaradei stated that nuclear-armed powers should live up to their Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments, he added.

 

However, Etemad said the IAEA has a duty to provide non-nuclear countries develop their own peaceful nuclear programs but ElBaradei failed to fulfill this duty.

 

“As the general director of this international body he did not make adequate effort to help other countries master nuclear technology and that is why many non-nuclear countries were disappointed with the agency,” he stated.

 

Commenting on the recent remarks by the incoming director general of the UN’s nuclear watchdog Yukiya Amano who said in July he has not seen any documented evidence that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, Etemad said it is a “good start”.

 

“I don’t see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this,” Amano told Reuters when asked whether he believed Iran was seeking nuclear weapons capability.

 

 

Source: MNA

September 02, 2009