Iran says UN nuclear watchdog鈥檚 claim 鈥榥ot accurate鈥�

The UN nuclear watchdog said that Iran denied 鈥榠ndispensable鈥� access to the TESA Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop near Tehran. (Reuters)
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  • Iran鈥檚 ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharibabadi on Monday rejected the charge on Twitter

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday rejected a complaint by the UN nuclear watchdog that it was blocked from a nuclear site, arguing that the facility was exempt from a recent agreement.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday it had been denied 鈥渋ndispensable鈥� access to the TESA Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop near Tehran contrary to a September 12 agreement with Iran.
Iran鈥檚 ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharibabadi on Monday rejected the charge on Twitter.
鈥淒uring the discussions in Tehran and Vienna, Iran indicated that... equipment related to this Complex are not included for servicing,鈥� he wrote, referring to IAEA work on its surveillance equipment.
Sunday鈥檚 IAEA statement 鈥渋sn鈥檛 accurate and goes beyond the agreed terms,鈥� he added.
This month鈥檚 agreement between the IAEA and Iran came days after the nuclear watchdog had decried a lack of cooperation from Tehran.
Agency inspectors had been allowed to service monitoring and surveillance equipment and to replace storage media at 鈥渁ll necessary locations鈥� except the TESA Karaj workshop, the IAEA said on Sunday.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in his latest report on Iran informed member states that the Islamic republic had granted all other access from September 20-22.
The IAEA鈥檚 latest report comes amid stalled negotiations to revive a 2015 landmark agreement scaling back Iran鈥檚 nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
That deal started to fall apart in 2018 when the US withdrew from it and reinstated sanctions. Iran in turn again started to ramp up its nuclear activities.
Talks began in April in Vienna between Tehran and the remaining five parties to the 2015 deal aimed at bringing Washington back into the agreement.
But that dialogue has been stalled since June, when ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi won Iran鈥檚 presidential election.
Iran鈥檚 foreign minister said Friday that talks would restart 鈥渧ery soon,鈥� but the US has called for a clear timetable.