Iran expects closure of case of "outstanding issues" soon

Mohammad Eslami made the remarks in his address to the 66th Annual Regular Session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference which kicked off in Vienna on Monday.

In his address, the AEOI chief said that the 30th national conference and the first international nuclear conference will be held in May 2024 in the Iranian city of Isfahan.

According to the Iranian nuclear chief, the quantitative and qualitative development of nuclear arsenals is worrisome, and the growing trend is contrary to the commitments accepted by the nuclear weapon states.

He expressed regret that five decades after the ratification of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Article 6 of the treaty is still not implemented.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, as the first country to offer a nuclear-weapon-free Middle East, expresses its concern about the secret nuclear military program the Israeli regime has, Eslami further asserted.

He went on to express regret that the Zionist Israeli regime has not placed its nuclear program under the IAEA monitoring, and for that, it is considered a threat to international peace and security.

He further considered the Tel Aviv regime as a threat to the integrity and credibility of the NPT and the IAEA.

The AEOI head went on to emphasize that the IAEA should report on Iran's verification activities while observing impartiality, professionalism, and realism, adding that "Iran expects the "outstanding issues" case to be declared closed as soon as possible in cooperation with the agency.

He noted that "the verification and monitoring activities related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are voluntary and are not related to the Comprehensive Safeguard Agreement (CSA) by any means, so its repeated relation and connection with alleged issues is completely baseless and unacceptable."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, as it has shown so far, abides by its obligations based on the Comprehensive Safeguard Agreement (CSA-INFCIRC/214) and has made its utmost efforts to enable the Agency to easily continue its verification activities in Iran," the Iranian nuclear chief also said.

MNA