Tehran has stepped up its criticism of Washington’s positions, especially following the visit of US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week.
On Tuesday, three senior Iranian officials reiterated their rejection of the US request to enter military sites.
While government spokesman Mohammad Reza Nobakht described the American aspiration to search the sites as “dreams,” the Iranian supreme leader’s adviser for international affairs said the US was undermining the security of these facilities.
In the same context, new Defense Minister, Amir Hatemi remarked that Haley “is not in a position to raise the issue of inspection of Iranian sites.” A spokesman for the National Security Committee in parliament had meanwhile stated that the committee had agreed on a timetable for the inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Hussein Naqvi Hosseini, said the committee “agreed to a timetable for the inspection of nuclear sites and facilities,” adding that the dates would be announced later.
Last week, the US ambassador to the United Nations pressed the IAEA to seek access to Iranian military bases to ensure that they were not concealing activities banned by the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major powers.
During a weekly news conference broadcast on state television on Tuesday, Nobakht said: “Iran’s military sites are off limits. All information about these sites are classified. Iran will never allow such visits. Don’t pay attention to such remarks that are only a dream.”
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters on Tuesday: “The Americans will take their dream of visiting our military and sensitive sites to their graves... It will never happen.”
