Iran: IAEA's policy under US influence

The Iranian lawmaker Seyyed Baqer Hossieni said the UN nuclear watchdog's policies toward Iran's nuclear program are influenced by the United States, local media reported Thursday.Quoted by Press TV, Hossieni said that since taking office as the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA), Yukiya Amano "has been executing U.S. orders and has apparently been commissioned to make problems ahead of the Almaty meeting and influence the upcoming (nuclear) talks" between Iran and the world powers.Despite positive outcomes from the first round of talks in Almaty in late February, Amano's recent comments show the United States is trying to prevent an agreement in the negotiations through obstructionism.Amano reportedly expressed concerns on Wednesday that Iran might be furtively pursuing activities to build nuclear weapons.The IAEA chief's remarks came two days ahead of a scheduled meeting between the Islamic republic and the P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany) in Almaty of Kazakhstan on Friday."The P5+1 nations, instead of following the U.S. goals and demands, should consider the interests of their own nations because they have also suffered losses due to the sanctions imposed against Iran under baseless pretexts," said Hossieni.In the past months, Iran and the IAEA held several rounds of talks to develop a structured approach to deal with the remaining aspects of Iran's disputed nuclear activities, however, no agreement was reached.Also, the IAEA asked the Iranian officials to let its inspectors have access to some Iranian military bases, including Parchin military site, which the UN watchdog suspects some nuclear experiments might have been carried out. Iran denied the allegations, saying that the IAEA should first present documents explaining the reason for its intended visit to its military sites.On Wednesday, Iran's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali-Asghar Soltanieh rejected, once more, any claim of possible diversion in Iran's nuclear program, saying that "Iran uses nuclear technology for completely peaceful objectives," semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday.The Iranian envoy said that Iran has had extensive cooperation with the IAEA in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ( NPT) regulations and would proceed with its cooperation with the UN body in the future, according to the report.Soltanieh added that, through its nuclear energy program, Iran seeks a new opportunity to enter modern economic fields, Press TV reported on Thursday.He emphasized that the West uses Iran's nuclear energy program as an excuse to exert pressure and issue threats against the country with the purpose of "preventing Iran from gaining access to a (reliable) energy source."The IAEA has inspected Iran's nuclear sites without any limits and in accordance with the NPT and reported no diversion in Iran's nuclear energy activities, he was quoted as saying.The country's nuclear energy program is a "legal right and a national issue with a bright future ahead," he pointed out.