Saudi Arabia welcomes IAEA’s resolution pressing Iran for access to nuclear sites

Saudi Arabia has welcomed a resolution by the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA calling on Iran to stop denying the agency access to two suspected former sites and to cooperate fully with it, according to a statement from the Kingdom’s ambassador to Austria.

The International Atomic Energy Agency 's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Friday, adopted in a vote called after China expressed opposition to it, in which it raised pressure on Iran to let inspectors into the sites mentioned in two of its reports because they could still host undeclared nuclear material or traces of it.

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“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomes the adoption of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the draft resolution submitted by the three European countries (France, Germany, Britain) calling for Iran to fully and immediately cooperate with the agency, including allowing the agency access to the specified sites,” read the statement from Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Sultan al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Austria.

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“The Kingdom supports this decision because it represents an important and serious step in efforts to address Iran's violations and breaches of international agreements and treaties related to its nuclear program, which comes in line with the Kingdom's repeated requests to the international community to assume its responsibilities towards not enabling Iran to develop nuclear technology for non-peaceful purposes in order to maintain international security and peace,” the statement added.

Britain, France, Germany said that Iran’s denial of access to UN inspectors risks seriously undermining the global safeguards system if no progress is made, according to a joint statement released on Friday.