TEHRAN, Iran
Iran is going to safeguard its military and technology secrets even after it concludes its nuclear agreement with world powers, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday.
"Iran will protect its national security, military and technology secrets in the aftermath of the nuclear deal," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Iran's official news agency IRNA.
Addressing a meeting of the Administrative Council of East Azarbaijan province, Rouhani said that the Additional Protocol in the Non-Proliferation Treaty did not allow access to Iran's military sites.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano said on May 12 that a final nuclear agreement would give the nuclear watchdog access to inspect Iran's military sites.
Amano claimed Iran had agreed to implement the IAEA's Additional Protocol when it accepted the framework deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries on April 2 in the Swiss city of Lausanne.
The spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department Marie Harf said Wednesday that Iran would "only get sanctions relief after they take the nuclear-related steps they have to".
“U.S. and EU nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps," Harf reiterated Thursday, according to the state department's website.
She underlined how and when that would happen were still part of the nuclear negotiations, adding "those are all details that just haven’t been worked out yet."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham responded to Harf Thursday by saying there would be no final nuclear agreement without openly discussing and concluding all aspects.
She added that there would be no agreement between Iran and P5+1 countries without respecting Iran's sovereignty rights, according to IRNA.
She said that the nuclear issues between the sides must be concluded with respect to the International Law and the Charter of the United Nations respecting sovereign quality of the member states.
