Iran: Soltanieh dismisses IAEA's latest report

One of Iran's senior nuclear officials Ali Asghar Soltanieh has publically dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) latest report on the country's nuclear programme. Speaking to IRNA news agency, Soltanieh said: “The report brings up repetitive and boring content... based on unfounded allegations and speculation regarding some activities with supposed military objectives…The agency's scientific and professional reputation will without a doubt be damaged for dealing with these accusations, failing to provide solid evidence, and seeking political objectives."

On Tuesday 24th May, the IAEA said it was assessing new data on Iran's nuclear activities which could potentially reveal previously “undisclosed” atomic intentions. AFP news agency, who obtained a copy of the report, said there were indications that the alleged work in Iran "may have continued beyond 2004."

Iran has always maintained that its nuclear programme was intended for civil uses, rather than for the development of military weapons. The international community, however, has continued to fear that the Islamic Republic is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme despite four rounds of UN sanctions.

Soltanieh added that the report showed Iran was "successfully" implementing its uranium enrichment programme, saying: "It has been clearly noted in the report that our nuclear activities, including enrichment, are being conducted successfully under supervision of the agency."

Sources: AFP, Press TV, Fars News Agency, IRNA

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran deliberates policies to counter UN sanctions

The head of Iranian Parliament's Economic Committee, Arsalan Fathipour, has said that Iranian parliament has outlined a number of policies aimed at countering the UN sanctions over the country's nuclear programme.

Fathipour said the changes related to a number of areas including trade, transport and foreign exchange, but gave no details of the measures outlined, saying the policies will be conveyed to the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, in due course.

Earlier in June, the UN passed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran restricting the country's financial transactions, and later additional sanctions in July targeting Iran's business trade with international companies.

Talking about the sanctions, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that UN-backed sanctions are “biting” Iran's economy, and added that, “The Iranian regime is quite worried about the impact”.

The Iranian government, however, has adamantly denied the sanctions' effectiveness on the country's economy and has said that they hace not impacted Iran's nuclear program.

Source: Bloomberg

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.