Iran Denounces IAEA Resolution as ‘Unconstructive’
Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani. Photo: X/ @Tasnimnews_EN
June 6, 2024 Hour: 2:40 pm
Iran is determined to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with its rights under international treaties.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani slammed the resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as another “political and unconstructive” attempt by some Western states to make political abuse of international mechanisms against independent states.
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The adoption would fail to have any impact on Iran’s determination to continue its peaceful use of nuclear energy and its nuclear development plans according to its rights under relevant international treaties.
Kanaani stressed that Iran was committed to continuing its technical cooperation with the IAEA within the framework of its international rights and obligations based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty and safeguards agreement.
On Wednesday, the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution calling on Iran to step up cooperation with the agency and let a larger number of inspectors visit its nuclear sites.
The resolution, proposed by Britain, France and Germany, was passed by 20 votes in favor and two against by Russia and China, with 12 abstentions.
In an earlier interview with the official news agency IRNA, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that the unconstructive resolution came despite open objection from the Iranian side.
Before the motion, AEOI President Mohammad Eslami said on Tuesday that the country would take retaliatory actions should certain parties to the 2015 nuclear deal seek to exert pressure or adopt an “anti-Tehran resolution” during the ongoing IAEA board meeting. “If the other sides return to their commitments under the nuclear deal, Iran will also fulfill its obligations,” he added.
Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with world powers in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. However, the United States withdrew from the agreement in May 2018.
In November 2022, the IAEA’s Board of Governors passed a resolution, proposed by the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany, calling on Iran to cooperate with the IAEA’s investigators regarding the alleged “traces of uranium” at a number of its “undeclared” sites. Iran has rejected the allegations.
Eslami said that Iran was in the phase of scaling back its commitments based on a strategic law passed by the country’s parliament in 2020 to counter U.S. sanctions, explaining that the move was prompted by the failure of other parties to the deal, particularly the U.S., to honor their commitments under the agreement.
Source: Xinhua
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