Top Iran cleric faults UN atomic agency

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Apr. 25 – Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani criticised on Tuesday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for failing to uphold the Islamic Republic’s nuclear “rights”, the official news agency reported. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Apr. 25 – Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani criticised on Tuesday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for failing to uphold the Islamic Republic’s nuclear “rights”, the official news agency reported.

“The agency (IAEA) has not lived up to its obligations”, Rafsanjani, who currently chairs the State Expediency Council, said at a conference in Tehran.

Rafsanjani said that the United Nations nuclear agency had failed to support countries in developing nuclear energy.

The top cleric also claimed the IAEA had given the “bullying” powers an “excuse” to put pressure on Tehran over its sensitive nuclear work.

In March, the Security Council adopted a “Presidential Statement” unanimously giving Iran until April 28 to suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities and resume its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iran’s hard-line President has since said that Tehran would never abandon its “right” to uranium enrichment.