Russia has called on the UN nuclear watchdog to adopt an impartial approach to the monitoring of Tehran's nuclear facilities, after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned Tehran is rapidly nearing the position of a nuclear state.
"We hope that the IAEA will be able to ensure the objectivity and impartially of the monitoring within the framework of its technical mandate, without getting politicized, without succumbing to absolutely perverted tricks by the Western camp," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday.
"We see this as a necessary guarantee of constructive cooperation between the agency and Iran the strengthening of which we have invariably supported," she noted during a briefing.
The Russian diplomat made the remarks in reaction to IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi's warning about the Islamic Republic's march toward a nuclear weapon.
"Iran is enriching uranium close to military levels and is rapidly moving towards becoming a nuclear state," Grossi said in an interview with Italy's ANSA news agency earlier this month.
He said the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is no longer sufficient to curb Tehran’s uranium enrichment which has exceeded international limits.
"The philosophy of the original accord with Iran can be used, but that agreement is no longer useful," he added.
On December 6, the IAEA reported that Iran had significantly accelerated its production rate of 60% enriched uranium, which is now approximately five times higher than a month ago. Iran is now believed to possess enough 60% enriched uranium to produce four to five atomic bombs, should it choose to pursue nuclear weapons.
