Iranian Commander: Visiting Iran’s military sites will be impossible
Iran’s Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi
The purpose of “the excessive demand made by the US and its allies in the negotiations is fully clear; they intend to introduce Iran as a threat to the world under the pretext of visiting the military centers,” Naqdi said in the Northwestern city of Zanjan on Thursday.
He reiterated once again that visiting Iran’s military sites will be impossible, stressing that national pride and continued respect for the Iranian nation are Tehran’s redlines in the negotiations.
His remarks came after Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said differences still remain between Tehran and the world powers on the implementation of the Additional Protocol to the NPT, yet, he strongly rejected any possibility for the inspection of Iran’s military sites and interview with nuclear scientists by outsiders.
“Interview with scientists and inspection of military centers are fully rejected, but talks continue within the framework of the procedures envisaged in the Additional Protocol,” Araqchi told Iran’s state-run TV late May.
“The methods for implementing the Additional Protocol are among the issues of difference and we are discussing them,” he added.
Araqchi’s remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei reiterated Iran’s opposition to the inspection of sensitive military sites and interview with the country’s nuclear scientists.
“As said before, no permission will be given for inspection of any military centers and talks with the nuclear scientists and other sensitive fields of study and intrusion into their privacy,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the Iranian cadets at Imam Hossein University – a renowned military academy of the IRGC – in Tehran late last month.
“I will not allow the aliens to hold talks and interrogate the dear and distinguished scientists and sons of this nation,” he stressed.
Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to the nuclear talks underway between Iran and the world powers, and said one of the challenges facing the talks was the other side’s bullying and excessive demands.
But he stressed that the enemies should know that the Iranian nation would not bow to the pressures and excessive demands.
In relevant comments on April 9, Ayatollah Khamenei specified conditions for a final nuclear deal with the world powers, and underlined that Iran doesn’t allow any inspection of its defensive and military centers.
“They (the foreigners) shouldn’t be allowed at all to penetrate into the country’s security and defensive boundaries under the pretext of supervision, and the country’s military officials are not permitted at all to allow the foreigners to cross these boundaries or stop the country’s defensive development under the pretext of supervision and inspection,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a large number of Iranian people in Tehran in early April.
Elaborating on his position on the recent nuclear statement issued by Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Lausanne, Switzerland, he said, “I am neither in favor nor against it since nothing has happened yet and no binding issue has occurred between the two sides.”
Ayatollah Khamenei underscored that he will support a final deal which would guarantee the Iranian nation’s honor and interests, and added, “I am not indifferent to the negotiations but I have not interfered in the details of the negotiations by now and will not interfere in the future either.”
Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the necessity for continued progress in the country’s nuclear Research and Development (R&D) and development of the nuclear industry, and said another important issue in the final deal is that “the sanctions should be removed completely on the same day (of the implementation) of any agreement”.
Also in April, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said there is no paragraph or article in the additional protocol to NPT to allow inspection of non-nuclear sites.
Salehi said that Paragraph 30 under Article 5 of the NPT Additional Protocol (which has not been yet accepted by Iran and should be approved by the parliament for implementation) allows the inspectors to inspect the vicinities of the non-nuclear sites, but they misinterpret that and intend to enter those sites, which will not be allowed.
