Conventional wisdom has it that membership of any county in international organizations has its own set of rights, duties and responsibilities. Put differently, both the member state and the international body are obliged to meet their commitments and uphold the charter of organization with no strings attached. Collaboration between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Organization obviously falls into the same category. There is no space for ambivalence, ifs, buts and whys.
Visit by the IAEA team to Tehran on Monday headed by its chief of safeguards, Ollie Heinonen has created another opportunity for our statesmen to remind the UN nuclear watchdog of its obligations and responsibilities vis-ˆ-vis Iran.
Iran was one of the first states to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and voluntarily implemented the crucial Addition Protocol even before Majlis ratification.
Moreover, Iran’s nuclear activities for the past several years have systematically been under regular IAEA inspections. The quality of cooperation extended by Tehran to the inspectors has been such that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has often acknowledged it in his reports and meetings with the press.
On more occasions than one, our senior officials have made known that they are willing to raise the bar and address the ambiguities. To this end almost all our nuclear facilities have been Now one simple question arises. Has the IAEA also risen to the occasion and fulfilled its obligations towards Iran?
One need not be a rocket scientist to understand what the answer is. The seemingly powerful nuclear body is obliged, as per its charter, to provide member states with technical and scientific support to advance their civilian nuclear programs.
As far as our memory goes, the agency has failed to abide by its own rules and regulations. Save for some very low-level help in the medical and agro sectors, it has refused to extend any
technological assistance for building nuclear power plants.
There is ample evidence that the agency has often violated the rights of the Iranian nation .
Heinonen is a seasoned diplomat and simply cannot be oblivious to the fact that resolving remaining issues between Iran and the agency demands honest cooperation. After all, who doesn’t know that cooperation has always been a two-way street?
If Iran is committed to allowing IAEA inspectors and provide the agency with updates on its nuclear activities, the latter is also obliged to defend the rights of our people in this highly sensitive field.
The recent report by ElBaradei indicated that the agency is still committed to abiding by its duties enshrined in the charter.
Instead of helping return Iran’s case from the UN Security Council to where it actually belongs, the report has sought to level baseless charges seen largely as unwanted and unhelpful.
Heinonen and company could do better by abiding by the agency’s obligations within the framework of the modality plan and ignore the US-Israeli lies and deceptions that can harm the agency’s already questionable image among the free peoples of the world.closely inspected by the agency.
As a responsible signatory to the NPT, Iran has indeed done more than its fair share with respect to its nuclear program and fulfilled all its obligations.
The government in Tehran has also expressed readiness to undertake added measures toward confidence building and ensure that its nuclear program is geared to producing electricity.