No New Deal Made By Iran, IAEA

Tehran, July 23, IRNA – Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry Abbas Araqchi said Tuesday no new deal has been made between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Araqchi made the remarks while commenting on recent reports saying that the agency has increased the number of its inspections from Irans nuclear facilities. Speaking at his weekly press conference, the spokesman said the talks between representatives of Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog focused on frameworks for new bilateral cooperation have not been finalized yet. Reiterating that Tehran is cooperating with the IAEA within the formers obligations based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Araqchi stressed, No measure beyond those obligations is accepted. Commenting on the issue of kidnapping Iranian diplomat Nour-Mohammad Nikbakht in Yemen, the spokesman said Sanaa is responsible for his life. Tehran has no new report on the issue but the Iranian diplomats in Yemen are closely in touch with the Yemeni officials and follow up the case there. Tehran has called on Sanaa to make every necessary measure for the release of the Iranian diplomat. Unknown gunmen kidnapped a staff member of Iran’s Embassy in Sana’a on Saturday while he was traveling through the diplomatic quarter in southern Sana’a. The armed men blocked the road, forced him to get out of his vehicle and took him to an unknown location. The Police said that a search was under way to locate the diplomat who was snatched in the street near the Iranian Embassy. On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Yemeni charge d’affaires to Tehran to convey the Islamic Republics serious concern over the fate of the kidnapped diplomat and to remind the Yemeni governments responsibility about the issue. Also in a telephone conversation with his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr al-Qirbion, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi slammed the kidnapping as “inhumane” and urged Sana’a to take serious measures to secure his release./end