Iran International
From behind bars, Iranian rapper and one of the country's most prominent activists Toomaj Salehi pleaded with fellow dissident Hossein Ronaghi to end a hunger strike and not risk death.
Iran condemned the move and ordered the activation of advanced centrifuges in response.
The resolution, backed by Western nations including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (E3), follows months of heightened tensions over Iran’s uranium enrichment.
It cites ongoing violations of a 2015 international deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with Tehran now holding a stockpile of enriched uranium more than 32 times the limit under the agreement.
Nineteen countries voted in favor and three - China, Russia and Burkina Faso - against, with 12 abstaining during the quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors.
Iran bashed the resolution, saying it lacked the support of nearly half of the IAEA's member states and was pushed through by the United States and the three European sponsors to advance their political agendas.
Referring to a recent visit to Tehran by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, Iran's foreign ministry said on X: "This politicized, unrealistic, and destructive approach undermines the positive atmosphere created and the understandings that have resulted from it."
The statement added that Iran was activating advanced centrifuges in retaliation but that the country's nuclear program would remain peaceful.
The resolution follows a similar IAEA rebuke in June calling on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog and reverse its recent barring of inspectors despite concerns Tehran would respond by boosting its activities.
E3 flags nuclear escalation
In a joint statement delivered to the IAEA board, France, Germany, and the UK expressed alarm over Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, a level well beyond civilian use and close to weapons-grade.
“Iran now has well over four IAEA significant quantities of uranium enriched up to 60%, the approximate amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded,” The E3 said.
The statement said that over the past five months, Iran had installed six additional cascades of advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility, significantly increasing its enrichment capacity.
It also criticized Iran’s continued restrictions on IAEA inspectors, including the de-designation, or revocation of accreditation, of experienced personnel which has impeded the Agency’s ability to verify Tehran’s claims of peaceful intentions.
Iran responds with warnings
Iranian officials had previously dismissed the resolution, accusing the E3 and their allies of undermining recent diplomatic efforts. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his French counterpart on Wednesday that the move complicates matters and contradicted the "positive atmosphere created between Iran and the IAEA.”
Tehran had recently proposed halting its enrichment of uranium to 60% but only after accumulating a stockpile of 185 kilograms. While this offer was mentioned in Grossi’s latest report, Western diplomats dismissed it as insufficient, noting that the material could easily be further enriched for weapons purposes.
Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, a claim met with skepticism by Western powers citing Iran’s lack of transparency and history of non-compliance.
Long-running disputes
The IAEA resolution also addressed unresolved issues, including the presence of unexplained uranium traces at undeclared sites and limited access for inspectors to critical facilities. Grossi’s recent trip to Tehran aimed to persuade Iranian leaders to improve cooperation and return to broader negotiations.
The resolution is seen as a step toward potentially referring Iran’s nuclear dossier back to the UN Security Council, where Western nations could trigger a so -called snapback mechanism to reinstate international sanctions lifted under the JCPOA.
Ronaghi, who has frequently been jailed for his criticism of the Iran's ruling system, began his fast from solid foods by sewing his lips shut on Sunday. He pledged to continue until the demands of late journalist and close personal friend Kianoosh Sanjari to free several political prisoners were met.
Sanjari committed suicide last week after warning he would take his own life unless several prisoners, including Salehi, were released. Activists including Ronaghi have blamed the Islamic Republic for Sanjari's death.
“Hossein, please break your strike. For the sake of all of us, break your strike,” Salehi said in a social media post from Dastgerd prison in the central Iranian city of Isfahan late on Wednesday. Detainees in Iran frequently pass messages to confidants who publish them on social media.
Salehi, a prominent voice in Iran’s protest movement, was arrested in October 2022 during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising after expressing support in his music. Initially sentenced to death on charges of “corruption on Earth,” his sentence was overturned by Iran’s Supreme Court in June yet he remains imprisoned.
“After Kianoosh, I can no longer bear even a scratch on a member of this family. Hossein, please break your strike,” Salehi added in his message on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the dissident community.
However Ronaghi vowed to persist in pursuit of Sanjari’s demands.
"My decision is this: I will continue with my lips sewn shut until Kianoosh's wishes are fulfilled," Ronaghi wrote on social media Thursday. He had previously reported feeling weaker and that he was imbibing only water, tea and medicine.
"My action with sewn lips is a political protest, and the responsibility for it, whether I am in prison, whether I am out of prison, whether you lock me in at home and prevent the sit-in, is with the Islamic Republic," he added.
Ronaghi later said that he was barred from continuing with his sit-in at Charsou - the site of Sanjari’s suicide in Tehran and described escalating harassment by authorities.
“I now face new forms of restrictions and imprisonment,” he said. “I am constantly monitored, both visibly and covertly, by security forces. They block my movements or detain me in undisclosed locations. It feels as though a prison has been built on this side of the bars.”
Earlier this week Ronaghi said security forces abused him sexually and verbally when he was arrested for a few hours in Tehran on Monday following another sit-in.
Despite these challenges, Ronaghi has planned another sit-in on Friday in Ekbatan, a neighborhood in western Tehran where security forces have been accused of coercing protesters into false confessions.
Last week Iran's judiciary issued death sentences for six individuals accused of involvement in the killing of a Basij militia member during the nationwide protests that erupted in 2022 in what has come to be known as the Ekbatan case.
His sit-in is also due to honor Aida Rostami, an Iranian doctor who treated protesters in Ekbatan and died under unexplained circumstances with state security forces widely blamed by activists for her death.
Rostami, 36, was caring for injured protesters during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests when she disappeared. Her body was returned to her family a day later showing signs of physical abuse according to her family, which says she was tortured to death.
“On Friday, November 22, I will conduct a sit-in at the Ekbatan Complex in honor of the dedicated doctor, Aida Rostami, and for the 'children of Ekbatan' who have endured two years of suffering imposed on them and their families," Ronaghi said Thursday night in a post on social media.
"In the place where you tried to destroy the environment to strip these people of their spirit for life, I will be present,” Ronaghi added. “Kianoosh's path will continue, even if I am left with no strength or if I am no longer here. Do whatever you wish."
