The Chairman of Iranian Parliament’s National Security & Foreign Policy Commission, Ebrahim Azizi, has denied media speculation about the resumption of inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said that Iran will not allow any international organisations to gain physical access to its nuclear facilities under any circumstances. He added that an IAEA delegation, that is scheduled to visit Iran shortly, will only have permission to hold expert and technical talks with Iranian officials.
In July, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian officially signed into law a bill passed by Parliament in June that obliges the administration to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. According to the presidential office, Pezeshkian enforced the legislation in line with Article 123 of the Constitution, sending the directive to the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), the Supreme National Security Council, and the Foreign Ministry for implementation.
This came after Israel on 13 June launched extensive airstrikes against multiple targets in Iran, including nuclear and military sites. Nine days later, the US carried out its own strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Iranian officials said a politically-motivated IAEA resolution had paved the way for the 12 days of attacks noting the agency’s failure to condemn the assault.
The new law also bars IAEA inspectors from entering Iran and prohibits the installation of surveillance cameras at nuclear facilities. Deputy Speaker Hamid Reza Haji Babaei said: “We saw information about our facilities in documents received from the Israeli regime,” accusing the IAEA of compromising Iran’s nuclear security.
Azizi stressed that, in future, Iran’s interaction with foreign organisations will be limited to technical cooperation with the purpose of exchanging expert views and resolving ambiguities. He stated that the restrictions are final and irreversible, and that the government is obligated to fully adhere to them. Issues such as granting access to Iran’s nuclear facilities or permitting inspections requested by the IAEA are not on the agenda of the government and the AEOI, he said.
During a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that no IAEA inspectors are currently in Iran. He also noted that Tehran’s cooperation with the UN’s atomic watchdog is regulated based on the recent law. The upcoming visit by IAEA officials to Iran is meant to discuss the “method of interaction” with the agency, he added. “We are facing exceptional circumstances, as the facilities of a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have been illegally attacked by two nuclear-armed regimes,” he said. “Unfortunately, the IAEA did not remain impartial, failed to condemn the attacks, and instead issued a report that provided a kind of political ground for making excuses.”
In July, Tehran made its first attempt at direct talks with European powers since the Israeli-US airstrikes, which took place while negotiations had been underway on the possibility of reviving the July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). After years of contentious negotiations moderated by the IAEA, Iran had signed the JCPOA with the P5+1 group of countries (the USA, UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany) under which it agreed to limit its nuclear development programme in return for the lifting of sanctions. UN Security Council sanctions on Iran were lifted but sanctions imposed by the US and European countries continued and in 2018 the US withdrew from the deal.
In response, Iran resumed nuclear construction and enrichment activities after notifying the IAEA. As a result, US and European sanctions were tightened further. The UK, France, and Germany (the E3) had previously warned they would reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran if no new agreement was reached by the end of August. Under the UN Security Council resolution implementing the nuclear accord, international sanctions could be reimposed on Iran through a “snapback” mechanism that would take about 30 days.
Iran is now insisting that Washington must compensate Tehran for the losses incurred during the recent 12-day war with Israel to pave the way for renewed negotiations. However, Iran says it is open to considering any plan to resolve the situation provided it allows uranium enrichment to continue on Iranian soil. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that enrichment is “an inseparable part” of the country’s rights under the NPT and that “any proposal capable of guaranteeing this important component will be worth considering for us”.
