Iran blames IAEA for leak of secret side deal document

by WorldTribune Staff, July 25, 2016

Iran accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of leaking details of a secret side deal in last year’s nuclear agreement that will lift restrictions on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program before the accord expires.

Iran said on July 25 that it will lodge a formal protest with the IAEA over the leaked document, PressTV reported.

IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
IAEA headquarters in Vienna.

The Associated Press reported last week on a classified document which revealed that “key restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program imposed under an internationally negotiated deal will start to ease years before the 15-year accord expires.”

“Our assumption is that it (document) has been leaked by the (IAEA) Agency,” an Iranian official said.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said that “the parts [of the document] published were confidential and were supposed to remain so.”

AEOI head Ali Akbar Salehi said on July 24 that Iran had asked the IAEA to keep information on Iran’s long-term nuclear program confidential. “We do not intend to make this plan known to the public and (IAEA)’s action is a breach of promise,” Salehi said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said last week that Teheran will have the capacity to quickly restore and even expand its nuclear program despite what the Obama administration claimed were “comprehensive” restrictions which would curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Zarif said Iran would restore its full nuclear program in a decade, when limitations imposed as part of the nuclear agreement expire.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner admitted last week that the public was kept in the dark about the side deal with Iran, but denied the document was “secret.”

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