‘The resolution will have its own consequences’, Iran’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog says.
The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution that called on Iran to provide it with access and information regarding its nuclear programme, as required under UN resolutions.
The vote on Thursday came a day after the head of the United Nations global nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, renewed his call for Tehran to allow inspections at key nuclear sites attacked by Israel and the United States in June.
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Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, a day after the agency found Iran noncompliant with its commitments to international nuclear safeguards, prompting Tehran to accuse the watchdog of paving the way for the 12-day war that killed more than 1,000 people and inflicted damage estimated at billions of dollars across Iran.
“Iran must … provide the Agency without delay with precise information on nuclear material accountancy and safeguarded nuclear facilities in Iran, and grant the Agency all access it requires to verify this information,” the draft resolution text submitted to the board and seen by the Reuters news agency said.
The resolution passed with 19 votes in favour, three against and 12 abstentions, diplomats said. Russia, China and Niger were the countries that opposed it.
“I’m afraid the resolution will have its own consequences,” Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, told reporters after the vote. Asked what those were, he said, “We will announce the consequences later.”
“We have performed a number of inspections, but we have not been able to go to the attack sites. I hope we will be able. Indeed, we have to go because this is part of Iran’s commitments,” Grossi told reporters on Wednesday, after opening the regular board meeting of the Vienna-based agency.
“I hope we’ll be able to move in a constructive manner.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday evening rejected any cooperation with the IAEA “regarding the bombed sites”.
“We only cooperate regarding nuclear facilities that have not been affected, in compliance with IAEA regulations,” he stated on Telegram.
Iran, IAEA relations remain tense
The tensions between Iran and the IAEA have repeatedly flared in recent years. They were further inflamed after the 12-day war in June. Iran has been infuriated by the IAEA’s refusal to condemn the attacks.
Since the war, agency inspectors have not been granted access to sites such as Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the strikes, but they have been able to visit other sites.
Grossi reached an agreement with Araghchi in Cairo in early September to resume inspections.
However, later that month, the deal faded in significance after the United Kingdom, France and Germany – all signatories to the 2015 nuclear accord – triggered the return of UN sanctions, accusing Iran of breaching its commitments, claims which Tehran has rejected.
The move drew an angry response from Tehran, leading it to halt implementation of the Cairo agreement.
The snapback mechanism reactivated six UN Security Council resolutions that address Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme, reinstated economic sanctions against Iran and contained other restrictions, such as halting all uranium enrichment.
Nevertheless, France’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday said his country, the United Kingdom and Germany – the E3 – want to re-open the door of diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear programme.
Spokesperson Pascal Confavreux told reporters that despite the Europeans pushing for the return of UN sanctions, those three powers had always wanted to maintain dialogue with Iran.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump claimed Tehran is seeking a diplomatic resolution with Washington, which has sought the dismantlement of its nuclear programme.
“I am totally open to it, and we’re talking to them,” Trump said.
“And we start a process. But it would be a nice thing to have a deal with Iran. And we could have done it before the war, but that didn’t work out. And something will happen there, I think.”
In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), effectively torpedoing it, and imposed strict sanctions on Iran.
