Iran Accuses IAEA Of Politicizing Its Assessment Of Nuclear Program
The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of politicizing the regime's ongoing nuclear program.
The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of politicizing the regime's ongoing nuclear program.
In a meeting with Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the IAEA, on the sidelines of the 67th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna on Monday, Eslami said, "These countries [in the West] are trying to use the agency's capacity to pressure Iran through political pressure and resorting to sanctions."
Eslami claimed that the regime would not yield to any political pressure, clear by its actions in recent weeks to ban one third of the organization's inspectors, in addition to flouting the regulations imposed under sanctions.
He claimed Tehran is ready to use its nuclear capabilities to "serve humanity in other parts of the world" in a bizarre twist, echoing President Ebrahim Raisi's odd claims this week from New York where he said Iran had no ambitions for nuclear weapons.
Grossi stated that in order to prove the peaceful nature of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, "credible assurances" need to be provided. He said that the cooperation between the agency and Iran should continue within the framework of the agreement reached between the two parties in March 2022 until tangible progress is achieved.
The statements came as Grossi, in his speech admitted that there has been no progress in implementing the activities outlined in the most recent joint statement he made with Iran in March 2023.
He emphasized that after years, important issues related to the Islamic Republic's compliance with its non-proliferation obligations remain unresolved.
Speaking at the IAEA General Conference on Monday, Grossi admitted that there has been no progress in ‘implementing the activities outlined in the most recent joint statement he made with Iran in March 2023.
Back in March, a few days before a quarterly meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, Grossi visited Iran to reach an agreement that would avert yet another resolution requiring Tehran to cooperate to resolve long-standing disputes.
Out of that trip came a Joint Statement in which the Islamic Republic of Iran expressed readiness “to provide further information and access to address the outstanding safeguards issues.”
The major outstanding issue remains traces of uranium the UN inspectors found at three sites previously undeclared. Iran has failed to provide satisfactory answers.
Critics of the Joint Statement said it was vague and too open to interpretation. They pointed out that the regime in Iran had made such promises many times without taking any meaningful step that would verify the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities.
Grossi, however, defended his endeavour, predicting a significant improvement in IAEA relations with Iran that would end several years of non-cooperation and evasion.
Seven months later, it seems his optimism was misplaced.
Iran is supposed to provide access to information, locations and people, Grossi told a news conference at Vienna airport soon after returning from Tehran in March, suggesting a vast improvement after years of Iranian stonewalling.
“I cannot but recognize that implementing the activities set out in the most recent Joint Statement between myself and Iran –in March this year– has not made the progress I was hoping for,” said Grossi at the IAEA General Conference, where he was formally appointed as head of the agency for another 4-year term.
Western governments have been hoping for a miraculous change of hearts in Tehran that would grant the IAEA the access they enjoyed right after the JCPOA (or the 2015 Nuclear Deal).
The Islamic Republic, however, has only pulled away.
A joint statement by UK, France and Germany to the most recent Board of Governors meeting in mid-September noted that “Iran has not allowed effective verification and monitoring activities in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges and key components, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate for more than two and a half years.”
Despite Iran’s clear and continuing non-compliance, the E3 (and the US) have so far failed to come up with measures that would ensure the Islamic Republic’s cooperation with IAEA.
And their inaction seems to have emboldened the Iranian regime.
Some of IAEA’s most experienced inspectors were required to leave Iran not long after the E3’s recent statement that asked Tehran to cooperate fully and immediately on issues of concern, including explaining uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
A few days later came the official admission that the two issues were related.
“We have no problem with the inspections, but with some inspectors” President Raisi said in a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, confirming that the decision to expel inspectors and further limit IAEA’s probing capability was a “reaction to some unfair statements by the Western members of the IAEA.”
Grossi’s admission Monday of his frustrated hopes can be read as a vindication of those who back in March criticized his Iran visit and his Joint Statement on the grounds that the regime in Iran cannot be trusted.
In his statement to IAEA General Assembly, Grossi repeated that “only full cooperation by Iran and tangible results will take us to credible assurances that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful.”
Grossi –like the E3 and of course the Biden administration– acknowledge that Iran’s nuclear program has reached “levels not seen in countries without a nuclear weapons program.”
Announcing the launch of the new location, Mahmood Enayat, General Manager of Iran International TV, said, "Britain is the home of free speech. The resumption of our programs from this country is evidence that we will not abandon independent and uncensored journalism to the people of Iran."
Following a significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran and advice from the London Metropolitan Police, Iran International TV announced in February that it reluctantly and temporarily closed its London studios and moved broadcasting to Washington DC. Iran International was warned by authorities in November that its journalists were under threat from Iranian agents and the police took measures to strengthen security around the network’s offices. A man was arrested in the vicinity of Iran International’s headquarters in February and charged with a terrorism offence.
In his message celebrating the resumption of broadcasting from London, Enayat extended his gratitude to the reporters and staff for their unwavering commitment during this challenging period. He also expressed appreciation to the Metropolitan Police of London and the British government for their continuous support in safeguarding Iran International's personnel and facilitating their safe return to the London office.
The channel's broadcasts have gained special significance since popular anti-regime rallies broke out in Iran last September, providing uncensored coverage of the protests and the subsequent crackdown on the public by the regime. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened Iran International and other Persian broadcasters based abroad as the government blocked the Internet to deny the population news and information. The Iranian regime has blamed foreign-based Persian broadcasters such as BBC Persian and Iran International for “fomenting unrest”, while all media in the country are under tight government control and present protesters as “rioters” and “terrorists”.
On Sunday, British daily The Times reported that Iran International’s workers are “ready to run the gauntlet again” seven months after the terrorist scare. “They said they were receiving information that there is going to be an immediate attack — maybe today, tonight or tomorrow,” Aliasghar Ramezanpoor, the head of news at the channel, told the newspaper.
“The Iranian government tried to make islands of people and sought to cut the flow of information about what was going on from one city to another,” Saeid Habil, a senior journalist at Iran International, told the paper. “They managed to cut the internet, so people [in Iran] needed an alternative link to each other. We were that link.”
Speaking last week at the station’s new studios in north London, Elnaz Kiani, a lead news anchor, told The Times that “For months, we were living whatever people were living in Iran — with all the emotions and hope. People trusted us. They were putting their lives in our hands by going out into the street and taking videos for us.”
Amid repeated threats by the Islamic Republic against Iran International’s reporters, the UK government vowed in December to step up protection of London-based Iranian journalists. British officials also expressed strong support for Iran International. Tom Tugendhat, the UK's Minister of State for Security, has repeatedly condemned Iran's threats against the network. He affirmed that the UK would continue its support for the network, ensuring its activities in a secure environment.
Regime authorities, including several Revolutionary Guard commanders, have repeatedly issued threats against Iran International and other foreign-based media outlets.
Earlier this month, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib reiterated threats against Iran International media network throughout the globe "wherever and whenever deemed necessary." He emphasized that the Islamic Republic would not refrain from invasive measures against the workers of the channel. “We believe that Iran International is a terrorist network, and naturally we deem it our duty and mission to act against them wherever and whenever we deem appropriate,” he said, warning that “no terrorist media will be safe.”
Khatib stated, "Support from various countries will not deter us from taking invasive security measures," claiming that several foreign-based channels have promoted “terrorism,” and Iran International is one of the most important ones.
The US Department of State, Belgium-based International Federation of Journalists, and Australia’s Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance are among entities that expressed support for Iran International and stressed the importance of safeguarding journalists' security and press freedom following the relocation of Iran International’s London office.
Following the relocation to DC, IRGC Commander-In-Chief Major General Hossein Salami said the threats against the channel’s journalists "show how far the Islamic Revolution's realm of power, field of infiltration and radius of influence has extended."
In May, Britain’s shadow security minister slammed the threats against journalists covering Iran’s protests. Speaking on World Press Freedom Day, Holly Lynch, the Labour MP for Halifax, said the threats by the Iranian regime include “assassination and kidnap plots against UK residents who are perceived as enemies of Iran owing to their coverage of the protests and the regime’s brutal crackdown”.
For years the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, has been demanding from Riyadh to accept complete safeguards protocols and the accompanying monitoring of its nuclear activities.
Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand to eventually include activities like proliferation-sensitive uranium enrichment. It is unclear where its ambitions end, since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said for years, it will develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran does.
He repeated the same policy in an interview with Fox news last week. When asked about Iran’s escalating nuclear program, MBS said, "If they get one, we have to get one, for security reasons and the balance of power in the Middle East. But we don't want to see that.”
For years, Saudi Arabia and its regional allies have been concerned about Iran’s uranium enrichment and were not happy when the United States signed the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) with Iran in 2015, which allowed continued enrichment. However, Tehran also accepted close IAEA inspections.
Saudi worries about Iran have not dissipated despite an agreement to restore diplomatic ties in March after seven years of strained and tense posturing. The complicated conflict in Yemen, where Iran supports the anti-Saudi Houthi forces has yet to be resolved.
Riyadh has yet to fire up its first nuclear reactor, allowing its program to still be monitored under the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP), an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that exempts less advanced states from many reporting obligations and inspections.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has been calling on the dozens of states that still have SQPs to amend or rescind them, calling them a "weakness" in the global non-proliferation regime. The IAEA has been in talks with Riyadh for years on making the switch to a so-called Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) for years.
"The kingdom has recently taken the decision to rescind its Small Quantities Protocol and to move to the implementation of a full-scope Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement," Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the IAEA's annual General Conference, speaking through an interpreter.
If Saudi Arabia were to introduce nuclear material into its first nuclear reactor, a low-power research reactor in Riyadh that is near completion, it would void the SQP and its exemptions from regular safeguards.
Despite that, its SQP is a sensitive issue given the fears of an arms race in the Middle East. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but it is enriching uranium to such high purity that Western powers say there is no credible civil explanation.
Saudi Arabia is also seeking US agreement and support for its nuclear program, a fact that becomes entangled in talks to normalize relations with Israel, expanding the Abraham Accords.
Prince Abdulaziz did not say whether on top of a regular CSA Saudi Arabia planned to sign up to the IAEA's Additional Protocol, which allows for more wide-ranging and intrusive checks such as snap inspections.
Iran applied the Additional Protocol under its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers but stopped after then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018.
(With reporting by Reuters)
