Iran takes hard line on inspections, sanctions at nuke talks

Iran took a hard line Thursday on two of the biggest demands of world powers in a final nuclear accord, rejecting any extraordinary inspection rules and threatening to ramp up enrichment of bomb-making material if the United States and other countries re-impose sanctions after the deal is in place. Speaking to reporters in Vienna, where diplomats are trying to clinch a comprehensive nuclear pact, a senior Iranian negotiator said the U.N. nuclear agency’s standard rules governing access to government information, sites of interest and scientists should be sufficient to ensure that Iran’s program is solely for peaceful purposes. Anything beyond that, he said, would be unfair. The U.S. and some other negotiating countries want Iran to go further.

Iran has the right to go back to its program as it wishes.

Senior Iran official

Iran also questioned the legitimacy of countries that don’t accept the International Atomic Energy Agency’s jurisdiction demanding that Iran be subject to tougher requirements than any other nation. RIA-Novosti reported that Russia also backed Iran’s position that additional inspection guidelines for Iran weren’t necessary. Even as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has defiantly rejected such access, U.S. officials have sought to differentiate between what Iranian officials were saying is for domestic consumption and what they were promising in the negotiating room. There were few public signs of progress as the high-level negotiations entered a sixth day Thursday after diplomats blew through a June 30 deadline and extended an interim accord by a week. Work was progressing, albeit slowly, officials said.

Politics Iran nuclear