VIENNA (AFX) - The UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday called on Iran to reverse its decision to limit cooperation with IAEA inspectors in retaliation for UN sanctions.
"I would urge your authorities to reconsider their decision," IAEA director of external relations Vilmos Cserveny said in a letter to Iran's ambassador to the agency, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh had formally announced Iran's decision to cut cooperation, in a letter sent Thursday to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, which called UN Security Council resolution 1747, adopted earlier this month, "illegal and unlawful."
Soltanieh also said Iran had to protect its nuclear secrets as the United States and Israel "are threatening the use of force and attack against the Islamic Republic and have repeatedly stressed that military action is an option on the table", according to a copy of the letter obtained by AFP.
Iran is cutting off cooperation agreed to in 2003 to give immediate notification of plans to build nuclear plants or to modify existing facilities.
Iran will now notify the IAEA of new sites only six months before they begin to function.
Analysts have said this could help Iranian authorities hide facilities and so protect them from possible military air strikes.
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