Iran said on Friday it would no longer cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), following US and Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
“The Parliament of Iran has voted for a halt to collaboration with the IAEA until the safety and security of our nuclear activities can be guaranteed,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X.
“This is a direct result of [IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi’s] regrettable role in obfuscating the fact that the Agency—a full decade ago—already closed all past issues,” Araghchi added.
The Iranian Foreign Minister criticized Grossi for not condemning Israeli attacks on Iran.
“The IAEA and its Director-General are fully responsible for this sordid state of affairs. Grossi’s insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent,” Araghchi claimed.
“Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defense of its interests, its people, and its sovereignty,” he added.
Responding to Araghchi’s statement, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, “The Iranian regime is the same regime. It continues to mislead the international community and actively works to prevent effective oversight of its nuclear program. The attacks on the IAEA and its Director General, only because they determined Iran is in breach of its obligations and is in a state of non-compliance, add insult to injury.”
“Israel acted at the last possible moment against an imminent threat against it, the region, and the international community. Iran continues to call and act for the elimination of Israel. The international community now has an obligation to prevent, through any effective means, the world’s most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon,” added Sa’ar.
Earlier this week, Iran's Parliament approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the IAEA.
The Iranian government contends that a resolution passed earlier this month by the board of the IAEA, which declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations, paved the way for the recent Israeli strikes.
The resolution censuring Iran followed the most recent IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program, which revealed a sharp increase in Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent, a level significantly closer to weapons-grade material.
Iran has rejected the IAEA report, claiming it was based on “unreliable and misleading information” provided to the agency by Israel.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)