According to a Reuters report on Wednesday, Iran has defended its refusal to allow an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert from inspecting its nuclear sites in August on grounds that “it had a sovereign right to decide who to admit onto its territory.”

It was the third time the person, whom the U.N. agency did not identify, had been unable to obtain an entry permit. It was unclear whether this official had received one to join an IAEA delegation holding talks in the Iranian capital this week.

It is important, the IAEA said in a Sept. 5 report on Iran’s nuclear programme, that “any staff member identified by the agency with the requisite expertise is able to participate in the agency’s technical activities”.

Although Iran claims that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes only, the regime has failed to to meet its commitments to the IAEA “to address concerns about suspected atomic bomb research by an agreed deadline.” Its failure to give a full account of its nuclear research is significant because such information is necessary in order “to ensure that the Iranians had ceased such work.”

[Photo: Marc Müller / WikiCommons ]