West’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program resemble 'crocodile tears': Russia

A senior Russian diplomat says the concerns raised repeatedly by Western countries in their media about Iran’s nuclear program are no more than “crocodile tears” as the issue can be resolved in a diplomatic manner.

Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said Western media had decided to “heat up” the situation around Iran’s nuclear activities.

The remarks came in reaction to a Sunday report by Bloomberg that claimed Iran has enriched uranium to a purity of 84 percent. Citing two unnamed diplomatic sources, the report alleged that the IAEA inspectors had found highly-enriched uranium particles in pipes connecting centrifuges.

Ulyanov said that such leaks in the media came at a critical time ahead of a session of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a bid to disrupt the visit of the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi to Tehran.

“Unfortunately, such things as 'leaks' of sensitive information in the media are not uncommon. This is done largely for obvious political reasons — to complicate the situation around Iran and its nuclear program. So now, Bloomberg sources decided to 'heat up' the situation on the eve of the upcoming session of the IAEA Board of Governors [to be held in Vienna from March 6 to 10]. Or maybe the task, in addition to this, was to disrupt the plans of the IAEA Director General to visit Tehran. Rafael Grossi has repeatedly stated the importance of such a trip now," he told Sputnik news agency.

"You can't go along with the 'stuffing' that some media operate on and whip up passions, taking into account the sensitivity of the situation around the topic of the Iranian atom, you need to wait for the conclusions of experts.”

The Russian envoy also underlined the need for a “speedy restoration” of the US-abandoned 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Bloomberg’s sources, he added, demonstrate "the hypocritical position of the Western participants in the Vienna talks” aimed at reviving the JCPOA.

MG