Iran entitled to issue, deny visas to IAEA staff

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it is the Islamic Republic’s sovereign right to issue visas or deny entry to the agency’s employees.

“I should say that in addition to [issuing visas to] the principal and permanent members [of the IAEA] in the past few months, Iran has also granted visas to three… new members of the agency’s team of experts,” Reza Najafi said on Wednesday.

Najafi’s remarks came after Reuters quoted the IAEA as saying that Tehran has refused to grant an entry permit to a member of an IAEA investigation team that visited the Islamic Republic on August 31.

“Under the IAEA regulations, Iran is under no obligation to grant visas to the agency’s employees,” the Iranian official said, adding, “Iran reserves the right to deny [visas to] even the appointed inspectors, and the Islamic Republic has exercised this right in the past.”

Iran’s IAEA envoy further touched on the latest round of negotiations between the agency and Iran in the Iranian capital, Tehran, saying, “Talks between delegations from Iran and the agency ended after two days.”

The high-level team, which was led by Tero Tapio Varjoranta, the IAEA deputy director general and head of the Department of Safeguards, arrived in Tehran on Monday to discuss the implementation of the remaining nuclear transparency measures agreed in May between Iran and the agency.

He said all remaining issues were discussed during the negotiations, including how two mutually-agreed-on transparency measures should be implemented.

He further noted that that the two sides will have another meeting in the near future, most probably in November.

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