Iran: US, UK, France deceiving world on their nukes

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency has accused the US, Britain, and France of deceiving the international community over their nuclear programs.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh rejected remarks by President Barack Obama of US, British Premier Gordon Brown, and Nicolas Sarkozy of France over Iran's nuclear program.

The three leaders earlier attacked the Islamic Republic over its second under-construction enrichment facility, located 100 kilometers south of Tehran, calling it a "deception."

"I categorically reject that there have been any concealment or any deception," Soltaniyeh said on Saturday.

IAEA Safeguards Agreements declared that Iran is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants 180 days before the introduction of nuclear materials into the facility.

The Iranian envoy noted that he gave a letter to the agency on September 21 and informed the deputy general, elaborating that its new plant would be operational in about 540 days.

He added that there were no obligations to inform the IAEA sooner, according to the agency's document 153.

"It is a pity that none of these three leaders have legal advisers to inform them that according to comprehensive safeguards we are only obliged to inform six months before we put nuclear material."

"This site does not have any nuclear material at all now," according to Iran's representative to the IAEA.

"The problem is that we are the victim of negligence of those who claim that they know in fact the international law. They are talking in the UN but they are not aware of the very principles of the Statue of the IAEA."

Soltaniyeh also clarified that Washington, London, and Paris deceive the people around the world by violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty articles.

"Those three countries in fact have violated for the last 40 years NPT articles."

"The United Kingdom has under secret program of the nuclear submarines so-called trident with over 30 billion pounds and the people of the world and even the British people are not well aware of that. This is a real deception that Mr. Brown has to answer the international community because this is a shocking threat to the international peace and security.

"France is also working on the nuclear weapon programs continuously."

"Americans are working hard on the nuclear weapon posture review. These are all deceptions and concealment."

The western countries have a "long-term strategy" and a "hidden agenda" to "destroy and jeopardize the spirit of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA in order to find an excuse and pretext for sanctions and other measures," Soltaniyeh concluded.