Iran plans to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog despite restrictions imposed by its parliament, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, while stressing that access to its bombed nuclear sites posed security and safety issues,
Reuters reports.
A new law passed in Iran following last month's Israeli and U.S. bombing campaign stipulates that inspection of Iran's nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security body.
The Israeli and U.S. strikes targeted a nuclear programme which Western countries have long said was aimed at building an atomic weapon. Iran has long said its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.
Any negotiations over Iran's future nuclear programme are likely to require its cooperation with the IAEA, which angered Iran last month by declaring on the eve of the Israeli strikes that Tehran was violating non-proliferation treaty commitments.
"The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions ... are serious," state media cited Araqchi as saying. "For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect ... and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined."
