US threatens not to sign n-deal with Iran

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IANS | 22 May, 2015
Washington has threatened "not to sign" a final nuclear agreement with Tehran unless the Iranian government gives access to its possible military dimension-related sites and nuclear scientists.

"If we don’t get the assurances we need on the access to possible military dimension-related sites or activities, that’s going to be a problem for us," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said on Wednesday in Washington.

"We and Iran have agreed that we will undertake a process to address possible military dimensions (of past nuclear work), and part of that includes access," Harf said.

"Under the Additional Protocol ... which Iran will implement and has said they will implement as part of this deal, the IAEA does get access."

“If we cannot agree in the final instance to something that meets our bottom line for what we need in terms of access, we’re not going to sign a final deal. And that’s just something we’ve been very, very clear about,” she added.

The remarks were made after the Iranian supreame leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that Iran would not allow inspection of its military sites.

Iran says the US was making fresh demands in the nuclear negotiations.

“They are making new comments in the negotiations. Regarding the inspections, we have said that we will not allow foreigners to carry out inspections of any military sites,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday.

"The enemies should know that the Iranian nation and officials will, by no means, give in to excessive demands and bullying," the Leader underlined.

The US and its negotiating partners reached a framework nuclear agreement with Iran in Switzerland on April 2.

Tehran and the P5+1 group -- the US, Britain, France, China, Russia plus Germany -- are currently working to draw up a final accord by the end of June.

Iran has repeatedly stressed that it will not allow inspections of its military facilities and insists that the nuclear deal must only include nuclear issues.

“Iran will brook no excessive demands. The agreed parameters are those confirmed by the two sides in Lausanne and these parameters need to be stipulated in a written agreement by Iran and the P5+1,” Iranian chief negotiator and foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier this month.