The remarks by Ramin Mehmanparast cast doubt
on how much the U.N. inspectors would be able to gauge whether Iran is
moving ahead with its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The two-day visit by the International
Atomic Energy Agency team, which started Monday, is the second in less
than a month amid growing concerns over alleged Iranian weapons
experiments.
Iran denies charges by the West that it
seeks atomic weapons, insisting its nuclear activities are for peaceful
purposes only, such as power generation.
Mehmanparast said the visiting IAEA team was
made up of experts, not inspectors. He told reporters that the IAEA
team was holding discussions Tuesday in Tehran to prepare the ground for
future cooperation between Iran and the U.N. watchdog. He said this
cooperation is at its "best" level.
"The titles of the members of the visiting delegation is not inspectors. This is an expert delegation.
The purpose of visit is not inspection,"
said Mehmanparast. "The aim is to negotiate about cooperation between
Iran and the agency and to set a framework for a continuation of the
talks."
Visits to individual Iranian nuclear sites were also not part of the IAEA earlier visit three weeks ago.
But on Monday, Iranian state radio said the
U.N. team had asked to visit the Parchin military complex outside
Tehran, a known conventional arms facility that has been suspected as a
secret weapons-making location and also to meet Iranian nuclear
scientists involved in the country's controversial program
"Iran's cooperation with the (IAEA) agency continues and is at its best level," added Mehmanparast.
The IAEA visit comes as Iran announced air
defense war games to practice protecting nuclear and other sensitive
sites, the latest in a series of military maneuvers viewed as a message
to the West that Iran is prepared both to defend itself against an armed
strike and to retaliate.
The U.S. and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran's nuclear program.
The official news agency IRNA said the
four-day air defense war games, dubbed "Sarallah," or "God's Revenge,"
were taking place in the south of the country and involve anti-aircraft
batteries, radar, and warplanes. The drill will be held over 73,000
square miles near the port of Bushehr, the site of Iran's lone nuclear
power plant.
Iran has held multiple air, land, and sea maneuvers in recent months as the tensions increase.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
If I was Iran I would be severly worried about my future, surrounded by US allies, the US threatening action, the Israelis almost undoubtedly going to take action...
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