Iran rejects UN atomic agency resolution and threatens reprisal actions

Iran suspended all co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after the war with Israel in June (Michael Gruber/AP)

Iran’s foreign ministry called a resolution by the UN atomic watchdog’s board of governors “anti-Iranian” and threatened unspecified retaliatory actions, state media has reported.

The International Atomic Energy Agency demanded on Thursday that Iran fully co-operate with the organisation and provide “precise information” about its stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium, as well as grant its inspectors access to Iranian nuclear sites.

A report by the official IRNA news agency on Friday quoted foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying that Iran had informed the Vienna-based IAEA in a letter that in addition to ending an agreement forged over the summer in Cairo, the Iranian government could take “other actions” in response to Thursday’s resolution.

IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi had reached an agreement with Iran in early September to resume inspections (Alexander Podgorchuk, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation via AP)

Iran suspended all co-operation with the IAEA after the war with Israel.

IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi then reached an agreement with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in Cairo in early September to resume inspections.

Mr Baghaei did not immediately elaborate on what further actions Iran would take, but further uranium enrichment by the country was a possibility.

He accused the IAEA of amplifying “grudges” held against Iran by the US, the UK, France and Germany.

The minister said that the resolution did not mention the reason that Iran halted inspections was because of the strikes by Israel and the US against Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.

The IAEA’s resolution sets the stage for a likely further escalation of tensions between the UN nuclear agency and Iran, which has reacted strongly to similar moves by the watchdog in the past.

After a 12-day air war in June with Israel, Iran suspended all co-operation with the IAEA.

Strikes on Iran killed nearly 1,100 in the country, including military commanders and nuclear scientists.

After the deal to resume inspections in September, the UN reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran later that month through the so-called snapback mechanism contained in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, drawing an angry response from Tehran and leading it to halt implementation of the Cairo agreement.