An Iranian nuclear spokesman on Thursday said accusations by the European Union of non-compliance regarding Teheran's enriched uranium programme were "baseless". "The E.U. claim over the underground tunnel at the Isfahan uranium plant is baseless as the issue had been brought in advance to the attention of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," said Hussein Mussavian, spokesman of the nuclear delegation team. Speaking to the Iranian news network Khabar, Mussavian said "the claims on the quality control tests on centrifuge components are not correct as all Iran did was some repair and maintenance work on the centrifuges which are permissible according to IAEA regulations," Mussavian added. European complaints surfaced Wednesday at a meeting of the IAEA in Vienna, where the three E.U. countries negotiating with Iran over its nuclear programme expressed "regret" that Teheran had not reported the existence of the tunnel. The E.U. trio of France, Germany and Britain also accused Iran of conducting quality control tests on centrifuge components despite the country's pledge to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment. "We are prepared to fully cooperate with the IAEA but will not give in to any demands beyond IAEA and NPT regulations," the Iranian spokesman said.
