Iran signals shift in cooperation with IAEA after war with Israel

Iran said Saturday its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency “will take on a new form”, expressing a desire for a diplomatic solution to resolve concerns over its nuclear programme.

Iran’s 12-day war with Israel last month, sparked by an Israeli bombing campaign that hit military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, rattled its already shaky relationship with the UN nuclear watchdog.

The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations, which have since stalled.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA “has not stopped, but will take on a new form”, after the Islamic republic formally ended cooperation with the UN watchdog in early July.

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Iran has blamed the IAEA in part for the June attacks on its nuclear facilities, which Israel says it launched to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon – an ambition Tehran has repeatedly denied.

The United States, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

Araghchi said requests to monitor nuclear sites “will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis… taking into account safety and security issues”, and be managed by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

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‘Assurances’

In early July, a team of IAEA inspectors left Iran to return to the organisation’s headquarters in Vienna after Tehran suspended cooperation.

The talks were aimed at regulating Iran’s nuclear activites in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Before agreeing to any new meeting, “we are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires”, said Araghchi, who also serves as Iran’s lead negotiator.

He said that any talks would focus only on Iran’s nuclear activities, not its military capabilities.

“If negotiations are held… the subject of the negotiations will be only nuclear and creating confidence in Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions,” he told diplomats in Tehran.

“No other issues will be subject to negotiation.”

Araghchi also warned that reimposing UN sanctions could eliminate Europe’s role in the process.

Enrichment

“Such measures would signify the end of Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear dossier,” Araghchi said.

A clause in the 2015 nuclear agreement, which US President Donald Trump withdrew from during his first term, allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed if Iran is found to be in breach of the deal.

Araghchi stressed that any new nuclear deal must uphold Iran’s right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

“I would like to emphasise that in any negotiated solution, the rights of the Iranian people on the nuclear issue, including the right to enrichment, must be respected,” he said.

“We will not have any agreement in which enrichment is not included.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the BRICS summit in Rio on Monday that Moscow would remain a committed ally of Iran and support its nuclear programme.

“Russia has technological solutions for uranium depletion and is ready to work with Iran in this field,” Lavrov said, as reported by Russian state news outlet TASS.