An article published in the US daily on Friday claimed that United Nations inspectors have found new evidence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran.
The article quoted three diplomats as saying that “samples taken from two sites during inspections in the fall by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency contained traces of radioactive material" that could implicate Iran's nuclear program.
The diplomats said they didn’t know the exact nature of what was found, the report added.
In reaction to the claim, Russia's Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Saturday that diplomats are supposed to think big, warning of “significant problems” if they pay extra heed to issues in the past.
Diplomats are supposed to think big. Who cares about traces of radioactive material left 20 years ago when #Iran upon its own initiative stopped some experiments. If some diplomats at this critical moment pay extra attention to the past, then all of us face significant problems. https://t.co/0DQdcOpJiH
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) February 6, 2021
“Who cares about traces of radioactive material left 20 years ago when #Iran upon its own initiative stopped some experiments,” the Russian diplomat said in a post on his Twitter account.
“If some diplomats at this critical moment pay extra attention to the past, then all of us face significant problems,” he added.
In another tweet, Ulyanov said he has no intention to criticize journalists but is addressing diplomats.
Not a shift. Just Realpolitik. And I don’t criticise journalists who have to do their work. My critical remarks are addressed to diplomats who have a different status and different tasks. If they can’t differentiate between primary and secondary issues, then we face real problems https://t.co/EnSL9wjG2t
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) February 6, 2021
“My critical remarks are addressed to diplomats who have a different status and different tasks. If they can’t differentiate between primary and secondary issues, then we face real problems,” he said.
In late August 2020, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi visited Tehran, where he held talks with Iranian officials over safeguards implementation issues.
The two sides then issued a joint statement, saying they had agreed “to further reinforce their cooperation and enhance mutual trust to facilitate” the full implementation of Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) and the Additional Protocol (AP) thereto, which has been provisionally applied by Iran since 16 January 2016.