Iran rejects IAEA demand to access Karaj workshop site, says beyond safeguards

Iran’s nuclear chief said on Tuesday demands by the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA for access to the Karaj workshop are beyond safeguards and unacceptable to Tehran, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

“Karaj ... is outside of safeguards ... We act within the framework of safeguards and NPT (nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty) and do not accept anything else,” the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, said.

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“The Karaj issue is closed, and the alleged cases and Karaj areinterconnected and must be resolved together,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran accused Western parties to its 2015 nuclear deal of “persisting in their blame game”, a day after European diplomats warned the pact would soon be an empty shell if not revived.

“Some actors persist in their blame game habit, instead of real diplomacy. We proposed our ideas early, and worked constructively and flexibly to narrow gaps,” Iran’s top negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said on Twitter.

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