Iran warns against IAEA pressure, Israel attack as more US talks loom

Al Jazeera

a day ago

Tehran, Iran – Iran has warned against Western-led escalation by the global nuclear watchdog and any attack by Israel amid preparations for a sixth round of talks with the United States.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the country will have a 'proportionate' response to any action against it by Western countries, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
'If we wanted to reduce our cooperation, the agency would not be able to carry out its duties. We have cooperated beyond our duties, and if the agency does not appreciate that, we will degrade cooperation to its normal levels,' Kamalvandi told Iranian state television late Monday.
His comments come as the IAEA Board of Governors is holding a five-day meeting in Vienna, with Iran's nuclear programme once again in the spotlight as Tehran is accused of 'non-compliance' with nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Backed by the United States, the three European powers still party to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – are pushing for yet another censure resolution against Iran for insufficient cooperation. The latest resolution, however, could prove the most serious in two decades and signal a shift toward escalated confrontation.
The 2015 deal lifted United Nations sanctions in exchange for strict curbs on Iran's nuclear programme, including a 3.67 percent limit on its enrichment of uranium. US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the landmark nuclear accord in 2018 and imposed harsh sanctions.
But the European signatories to the nuclear deal could still activate a 'snapback' mechanism baked into the 2015 deal that would reinstate all United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran lifted as part of the agreement. A strongly worded IAEA resolution could pave the way for that to happen.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi again warned this week that such a move would signal 'another major strategic mistake' on the part of France, Germany and the UK.
Araghchi said the European powers appear poised to ratchet up tensions again by reviving an investigation into Iran's developing nuclear weapons, despite Tehran's insistence that its nuclear programme is strictly peaceful.
Iranian authorities have for long emphasised that the country could abandon the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons – and cut off access to IAEA inspectors if the UN sanctions are reimposed.
The IAEA scrutiny also involves traces of nuclear particles found in several undeclared Iranian sites, mainly based on intelligence from Israel – which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted were obtained as part of a major 2018 raid on a warehouse holding documents in Tehran.
Iran's deputy nuclear chief Kamalvandi told state television this week that the country has provided evidence to the IAEA that the cases are a result of 'sabotage' and that the nuclear materials were planted.
He said Iranian officials were surprised when in Turquzabad, one of the sites in question near Tehran, agency inspectors knew exactly which points to test for suspected materials.
'It is natural that whoever contaminated the site, has given the exact coordinates for the inspectors to look,' Kamalvandi said.
The wrangling over Iran's nuclear programme is likely to be affected by Tehran's major announcement this week that a 'treasure trove' of thousands of documents has been obtained from inside Israel.
The documents, which are allegedly related to Israel's clandestine nuclear programme, will be unveiled soon, according to Iranian authorities.
No details have been published yet, but the fact that the Iranian Army, Supreme National Security Council, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Ministry of Intelligence have all separately hailed the announcement shows Iran is doubling down on the significance of the documents.
Specifically, Iran says the documents could increase deterrence against long-threatened Israeli aggression against Iranian nuclear sites, and reverse the perception that Iran has been weakened amid the regional fallout of the war on Gaza that saw ally Bashar al-Assad fall in Syria and Hezbollah take heavy blows in Lebanon.
The Supreme National Security Council said the information will allow Iran to 'immediately retaliate against any potential Zionist regime [Israeli] aggression on the country's nuclear facilities by attacking its hidden nuclear sites, and to respond proportionately to any hostile acts against economic and military infrastructure'.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said this week that he believes Israeli air strikes would push Iran to seek nuclear weapons.
Grossi himself has come under fire from Iran, with Iran's nuclear head Mohammad Eslami saying that he had proven 'that the IAEA is merely a tool in the hands of a few nations'.
'They issue the commands, and he obediently follows, executing their directives,' Eslami said on Tuesday.
Iranian authorities have claimed Grossi is looking to become the next secretary-general of the UN, and is therefore sacrificing the nuclear watchdog's integrity by adopting pro-Western rhetoric to gain personal favour. Grossi says the agency is merely doing its job.
Trump said the sixth round of talks with Iran will take place on Thursday, but Iran's Foreign Ministry said planning is under way to hold a meeting next Sunday.
After five rounds of negotiations mediated by Oman, Iran and the US have yet to see eye-to-eye on the most fundamental issue: enrichment.
Trump, who initially emphasised his only demand was that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, has in recent weeks shifted his rhetoric to push for zero nuclear enrichment taking place on Iranian soil.
Tehran maintains this is a non-starter since it has a legitimate right to use nuclear energy for civilian use such as power generation and making radiopharmaceuticals, but said on Monday it will offer a counterproposal to Washington soon to advance the talks.
Mossad chief David Barnea and other Israeli officials are slated to meet with Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy leading the talks, before the sixth round.