Iran has rejected a United States demand for UN nuclear inspectors to visit the country’s military facility, dismissing it as “merely a dream.”
Last week, the U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called on the IAEA to seek access to the Islamic Republic’s military bases to verify that the country was not concealing activities prohibited under the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the US-led group of six world powers in 2015, Reuters reported.
“The Americans will take their dream of visiting our military and sensitive sites to their graves … It will never happen,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters.
His sentiment was echoed by another government official. “Iran’s military sites are off limits,” an Iranian government spokesman said at a weekly news conference broadcast on state television on Tuesday. “All information about these sites are classified. Iran will never allow such visits. Don’t pay attention to such remarks that are only a dream,” Mohammad Baqer Nobakht added.
In April, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a review of whether a suspension of sanctions on Iran related to the nuclear deal was in the U.S. national security interest. He has dubbed the nuclear deal, signed by the Obama administration, as “the worst deal ever negotiated.”
Since the agreement came into effect, Iran has continued to boost its military capabilities. On Sunday, a senior Iranian air force commander told reporters that the Islamic Republic’s advanced S-300 air defense system, delivered by Russia, is now “fully integrated” and ready for “practical operations.”
The State Department is required under U.S. law to notify Congress every 90 days of Iran’s compliance, or the lack thereof, with the nuclear agreement. It is likely that the deal could collapse under its own weight soon, with the next deadline approaching in October. President Trump has already indicated that he thinks by then the administration will have evidence to prove that Iran is in violation of the agreement.
[Photo: Nanking2012 / YouTube]