Iran Says IAEA Cannot Claim Inspections of Attacked Sites Without a New Protocol

TEHRAN — Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief, Mohammad Eslami, said the International Atomic Energy Agency cannot claim to have the authority to inspect nuclear sites that have come under military attack until specific rules and an inspection protocol for such facilities are drafted, approved and formally issued.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the opening and unveiling of four knowledge-based achievements of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Eslami said Iran’s dealings with the agency were governed by a law passed by the Iranian parliament. He said Tehran had communicated its position to the IAEA and that the agency understood the conditions surrounding inspections of damaged sites.

“Until the rules and protocol for inspecting sites that have been subjected to military attack are drafted, approved and issued, the agency cannot claim to conduct an inspection,” Eslami said, according to the Iranian Students News Agency report carried by IRNA.

The remarks came in response to a question about Iran’s latest interactions with the IAEA and whether the country had undeclared activities at locations including Kuh-e Kolang, a site that, according to the report, the president of the United States had previously threatened to bomb.

Eslami characterized such threats as evidence of what he described as the vulnerability of international organizations to pressure from the United States and Israel. He said the IAEA had its own legal framework and statutes, and that its director general had defined responsibilities under those rules.

Iran, he added, expected international organizations to be allowed to operate according to their established procedures without pressure or threats against their officials.

### Different treatment for damaged and undamaged sites

Eslami said Iran’s conduct had been based on safeguards and the IAEA’s regulations. He stated that the facilities now affected by military strikes had all been registered with the agency and had previously been subject to regular inspections.

In his account, the issue was not whether Iran rejected inspections in general, but how inspections should be conducted at facilities whose security and physical condition had been altered by military action. Eslami said that the IAEA’s failure to protest or condemn attacks on the sites raised questions about the agency’s independence and competence.

He said inspections required under safeguards had continued at facilities that had not been attacked. By contrast, inspections of sites that had been struck were subject to the Iranian parliament’s law. The IAEA, he argued, should first clarify the security status of such locations and announce what protocol would apply if a nuclear site were subjected to military attack.

According to Eslami, the absence of such a protocol, combined with what he described as a lack of public positioning by the agency, had left the IAEA under pressure from the United States and Israel to visit damaged facilities. He said the purpose of that pressure was to determine what had happened at the sites as a result of military operations.

Eslami also said Iran remained in wartime conditions and that it was not yet possible to assume that the conflict had ended or that the security of the affected facilities had been restored. He repeated that the parliamentary law remained the basis for Iran’s position and said the matter had been conveyed to the IAEA.

Asked about interactions with the agency during the previous month, Eslami said facilities that had not been struck had been inspected, describing those inspections as normal and self-evident.

### Other nuclear organization projects

During the same event, Eslami discussed several projects unrelated to the inspection dispute, including the expansion of plasma-based medical and agricultural applications.

He said the organization had signed an agreement with a major agricultural company to test the use of plasma in improving crop productivity. According to Eslami, an initial trial had produced at least a 30 percent increase in wheat yield. A further agreement and contract had been exchanged to expand the project to hundreds of hectares using plasma-treated seeds.

He said the approach was intended to improve product quality and national self-sufficiency while increasing productivity, reducing water consumption and improving the effects of cultivation on soil and water resources.

In medicine, Eslami said Iran currently had 20 plasma wound-treatment centers operating in 20 clinics, with several more prepared to open. He said the treatment was being offered to people suffering from chronic wounds, including diabetic wounds and bedsores, and claimed that hundreds or several thousand people had been treated since the centers began operating.

Eslami also said Iran continued to export radiopharmaceuticals despite political difficulties affecting cooperation with other countries. He said exports depended on the availability of reliable air connections, but added that some products had been transported by land to borders during the war. With flights now operating to a greater extent, he said exports to several countries were continuing.

### Fusion research and testing facilities

The Atomic Energy Organization chief described nuclear fusion as a potentially unlimited source of future energy. He said developed countries were pursuing fusion research seriously, while acknowledging that no country had yet established fusion as a stable energy source.

Iran, he said, had worked on fusion as a research project for years. The systems unveiled at the ceremony included equipment for measuring and monitoring plasma behavior inside a tokamak. Eslami identified the equipment as part of Iran’s larger national “Shams” tokamak project and said the systems were designed to have applications in larger-scale and higher-energy operations.

He expressed hope that faster progress would allow Iran to narrow the gap with developed countries working collectively on fusion research.

The ceremony also included the opening of a nondestructive testing laboratory. Eslami said such testing was required for products and components seeking standard certification, particularly in major and sensitive industries such as nuclear energy, aviation and power generation.

He explained that destructive tests assess strength, characteristics and usable life by damaging a component, while nondestructive tests examine the condition and behavior of a component without destroying it. The new center, he said, would provide laboratory services, training and competency certification for personnel working in nondestructive testing, and would serve advanced industries across Iran.

The inspection dispute, however, remained the central political issue in Eslami’s remarks. His position, as reported by IRNA, is that inspections of military-damaged nuclear facilities require a formally established framework addressing site security and inspection procedures. Until such a framework is adopted and issued, Iran says its parliamentary law prevents the IAEA from carrying out or claiming such inspections, while inspections of facilities not affected by attacks can continue under existing safeguards arrangements.