ICBPS– The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi will make his first trip to Tehran – since his inauguration — to pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) to grant inspectors access to two reported atomic sites after a months-long standoff, the chief stated on Saturday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution in June raising pressure on IRI to let inspectors into the sites pointed out in two quarterly IAEA reports due to the fact that they might still host undeclared nuclear product or traces of it.
“My goal is that my meetings in Tehran will result in concrete development in resolving the exceptional concerns that the Agency has actually connected to safeguards in Iran and, in specific, to solve the concern of gain access to,” Grossi, who took control of as IAEA director basic in December, stated in a declaration.
The declaration stated Grossi would meet “top-level IRI authorities,” without defining whom. Diplomats in Vienna have stated they hope the standoff over gain access will be resolved before the next Board of Governor’s conference in September.
“We hope this visit will cause enhanced mutual cooperation,” IRI’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibabadi, stated, according to a declaration published by his mission on Twitter.
When you look at the facts, it’s bizarre that Iran wants nuclear energy. The Islamic Republic, and hence its people, would be far better off pursuing non-nuclear alternatives, at least in terms of the economy.
The current regime’s slogan, “Nuclear Energy Is Our Unarguable Right,” is not a new sentiment. “This idea goes back to 1950s, when Iran [for the first time] became interested in using nuclear energy, although, at the time, it was only limited to university research programs”, says Ardeshir Zahedi, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Shah between the years 1966-73. The Shah believed that with the large exploitation of petroleum, Iran would one day have to purchase oil for its own needs, Zahedi says.
We’ve come a long way since then. Tehran has spent billions of dollars to develop heavy water reactors, production plants, uranium enrichment plants, and military sites. Compliance with agreements not to engage in weapon-related work is sketchy at best. Just 2% of electricity production is from the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, according to the Tasnim news agency report, in April 2016, citing the CEO of the plant.
The real reason for all the spending on nuclear, is military. That’s not paranoid Western conjecture. “If there is a way that an oppressed person can instill terror and fear into the hearts of such disbelievers, this form of terror is permissible and is sacred. I repeat, this form of terrorism is sacred”, says Hassan Abbasi the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp Commander. Abbasi’s political vision is based on “aggressive approach against the west” and “no compromising on nuclear issues.”
It’s a shame because Iran could be rich in energy and so help its people, many of whom now struggle to survive.
