A senior Iranian parliamentarian has warned that his country may revise its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Mousa Qorbani was speaking to IRNA on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Parliament or Majlis open session. He said that the recent reports of IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei and the UNSC indicate that the West lacks good-will towards Iran despite the fact that the country has had extensive cooperation with the agency.
The comment came after IAEA Chief Mohammed ElBaradei suggested in his latest report that Iran was withholding information necessary to explain 'serious' intelligence, asking the country to comply with the agency's demands. According to ElBaradei, ten countries have provided the IAEA with documents which accuse Iran of conducting dubious tasks - such as the 'green salt project, high explosives testing, and the missile re-entry vehicle project' - in relation to its nuclear program.
Iran has dismissed the claims as based on 'fake' and 'fabricated' data and has requested the UN body to provide the country with the original documents - which can be used to prove whether or not they are authentic.
On Saturday, the UNSC also passed a resolution on Iran, demanding the country to 'comply fully and without delay' with the council's previous demands. Under US pressure, the UNSC has intervened in Iran's nuclear case and has so far imposed three rounds of sanctions against the country, requiring it to halt uranium enrichment.
Qorbani, a member of Majlis's presiding board, also said that despite Iran's widespread cooperation with the agency, the IAEA, under US pressure, issued a series of reports that provided the pretext for the West to derail Iran's nuclear program.
"There is no need to continue cooperation with the IAEA beyond the legal frameworks," he stressed. "Iran is no longer to abide by Modality Plan," the MP said, adding that the Islamic Republic will give a "swift response" to the anti-Iran resolution.
Earlier, Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani also said that the resolution might cause Tehran to reconsider negotiations over its nuclear program. "This move once again provides clearer indication that US verbiage regarding Iran's nuclear issue is based on mere political pretense and not on legal proceedings," Larijani said.
His warning comes after the UN nuclear watchdog, in its September 15 report on Iran, also declared that it could not find any 'components of a nuclear weapon' or 'related nuclear physics studies' in the country.