Iran fights back, calling for negotiation

Iran fought back on Thursday at the IAEA board of governors meeting, calling for negotiation in resolving the Iran nuclear issue.

"Iran believes in negotiations, and negotiation is the only way to resolve the Iran nuclear issue," Iran's ambassador to the IAEA Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzadeh Basti told reporters after Thursday morning session.

When addressing the IAEA board meeting, Akhondzadeh said the international community has exaggerated Iran's breaches of its obligations to the NPT Safeguards Agreement.

"Reviewing the technical and legal aspects of the Iranian peaceful nuclear program it could easily be concluded that the international community has been, to a great extent, misled with biased, politicized and exaggerated by certain quarters," he said.

The ambassador refuted the accusations against Iran's " concealment" of its nuclear program, saying it was "incorrect and misleading."

Some Western countries say that Iran hid its uranium enrichment program from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 18 years.

"Lack of reporting of the activities such as establishment of nuclear facility which Iran was obliged to inform the Agency (IAEA) . .., only 180 days before the defined nuclear material are fed in, is not a concealment," he said.

Akhondzadeh also listed up detailed cases to counterattack the accusations from the European Union (EU) and Australia, saying Iran did not conceal anything for IAEA inspections.

"Iran has granted unrestricted access during more than 1300 man-day inspection since 2003, which is unprecedented in the history of the IAEA," he said.

The ambassador also pointed out that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had put forward a confidence-building measure to invite "private and public sectors of other countries" to participate in " the implementation of the fuel cycle."

The Iranian president's proposal has drawn "interests" from some countries, the ambassador told the press.

Source: Xinhua