A top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that Iran will never allow a foreign nation, especially the United States, to inspect its military sites to ensure compliance with the nuclear deal, Iran’s semi-official Fars News reported.
Brigadier General Hassan Salami, the Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC said in television interview Saturday night, “Both the great Iranian nation and the US and the world should know that if there is only one demand in the whole world which will be rejected and if there is only one wish that will be taken to the grave, it is the Americans’ demand to visit our military centers.”
In a similar vein, last Monday IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh responded to President Donald Trump’s demand that inspectors be allowed into Iranian military sites, “The response is clear. We will not give them such a permission.” Hajizadeh added, “Both the Zionists and the reactionary regional regimes understood that we have certain redlines and will resist to safeguard the revolution and will not withdraw.”
“This rejection violates the JCPOA,” Mark Dubowitz executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote, “We should test it sooner rather than later.”
In an interview with NPR following the agreement on the nuclear deal in 2015, then Secretary of State John Kerry said that Iran’s refusal to allow inspections of military sites would constitute a “material breach of this agreement.”
In August 2015, after the deal was announced, the Associate Press revealed a side agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran. The agreement allowed Iran to take samples from the suspected nuclear military site at Parchin instead of allowing IAEA inspectors to enter the site.
During the inspection carried out at Parchin, the IAEA found traces of enriched uranium but was unable to determine its exact source, raising significant questions about the full extent of Iran’s past military nuclear research program.
[Photo: Tasnim News ]