Iran Protests IAEA Chief’s Visit to Israel; Khatibzadeh: JCPOA Revival is ‘Accessible and Possible’
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that the Board of Governors resolution “disrupted the path that had been defined between Iran and the Agency,” describing it as a “political action” that Iran “certainly” could not leave unanswered.
Saeid Khatibzadeh on Monday, June 13, also referring to Rafael Grossi’s visit, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, accused him of placing “this structure at the disposal” of Israel as a “broker,” and claimed that “achievements in the safeguards field have been invalidated by the IAEA Director General himself.”
Khatibzadeh, while accusing Grossi of “changing tone,” viewed it as evidence of “taking orders from a center” and said: “We certainly could not leave this non-technical political action by the Agency unanswered. We took our actions within this framework.”
Stating that “the measures taken by Iran were decisive and proportionate,” he added: “Even though they say the resolution was procedural and advisory, if there were no necessity for the resolution, they would certainly have taken a different path.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, while emphasizing that the agreement to revive the JCPOA remains “accessible and possible,” made it conditional on two actions by the United States, saying that if America overcomes “the illusion of leverage” and accepts to fulfill its obligations “under the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” “we can go to Vienna tomorrow and finalize the agreement.”
Khatibzadeh’s press conference this week had another incident that some journalists referred to as “morality police.” A reporter at the session, while criticizing the presence of senior military officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the Russian Embassy and lining up to shake hands with the country’s ambassador, announced that the Foreign Ministry’s security told her that because of wearing short-sleeved clothing, she is not allowed to enter the ministry building starting next week.
Following the Board of Governors resolution last week condemning Iran for concealing uranium particles at undeclared locations, Iran announced last Thursday that it would disconnect 27 “beyond-safeguards” IAEA cameras and remove them from their installation sites.
According to Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, these cameras, which are installed in various nuclear facilities, including “Tehran, Isfahan, Natanz, and other locations,” and disconnecting them represents “a very serious challenge” to the capacity of this UN monitoring body to verify Iran’s compliance with its nuclear commitments and will have consequences.
Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel, also said on Saturday that Iran is “dangerously” completing its nuclear weapons program, and if the West does not stand against the “regime,” the Islamic Republic will soon obtain an atomic bomb.
Source: Voice of America
