Tehran, June 7, IRNA – A former member of Iranian nuclear negotiations team wrote on Sunday that the Additional Protocol to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) neither necessitate inspections of military centers, nor interviews with nuclear scientists.

Seyyed Hossein Mousavian in an article published in Al Monitor stressed that in order to resolve the possible military dimensions (PMD), the West has to guarantee that it will observe it's Article 5, as well.

'After the declaration of the Iranian Supreme Leader's opposition against inspections of military centers and interrogation of our country's nuclear scientists in case any type of nuclear agreement is reached, the issue turned to the subject of most controversial debates about the Iranian nuclear issue,' he wrote.

Mousavian argued in the article that quite naturally, permitting the foreign inspectors to examine the Iranian military centers and exposing our dear nuclear scientists to threats posed against them due to those interrogations harms the national pride of the Iranians and that is true in case of any other country, as well.

'Those are issues that can face the entire process of the nuclear negotiations with defeat,' he reiterated.

Mousavian reiterated that such unannounced inspections are exclusively related to the PMD in Iranian nuclear program, adding that the West's worries about the PMD in Iran dates back to the year 2003, when the Iranian civilian nuclear program was for the first time put in the focus of attention.

He referred to a book by James Risen, a New York Times reporter, published in 2006 titled War Conditions: CIA and Bush Administration in which he tried to prove that the Iranian nuclear program is after manufacturing nuclear bombs.

The former Iranian negotiator wrote that relying on the fabrications of Risen in that book in the year 2011, the US and its allies in NATO presented photos and documents to the IAEA claiming they were revealing the military dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program.

Mousavian argued that those acts led to imposing the illogical nuclear sanctions against Iran. He also referred to a Persian proverb that says 'A mad man throws a stone into a well that 100 wise men cannot take out', arguing that Risen's book resembled that stone!

He has in his article elaborated on Iran's confidence-building measures, the unprecedented IAEA inspections and the fact the 120 countries have signed the Additional Protocol, and the recent sensitivities about it in Iran about the protocol.

The former Iranian diplomat also noted that ratification of implementing the Additional Protocol is subject to its ratification in the parliament and that rejecting it there will mean the defeat of the nuclear agreement.

He proposed certain conditions to ease both sides' serious concerns, including ensuring the Iranians that the Additional Protocol will be temporarily in effect; the other side will fully abide by its commitments, the IAEA will confirm that the Iranian program is purely for peaceful purposes, the lives of the Iranian scientists will not be threatened, and Iran's status in the IAEA will return to normal like that of every other member.

By IRNA