VIENNA (Dispatches) -- Iran’s
representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Thursday warned that any counterproductive measure against Tehran during the forthcoming meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors can jeopardize talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
“IAEA cannot disassociate itself from the destiny of the JCPOA. Any counterproductive action disrupts the negotiation process,” Kazem Gharibabdi tweeted.
The IAEA produced two reports on September 7, accusing Iran of restricting monitoring of its nuclear sites and not responding to requests for information about traces of nuclear material allegedly found by inspectors last year.
Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said all inspections of nuclear facilities beyond the Safeguards Agreement have been halted, but the IAEA continues others as usual.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had earlier claimed that Iran was blocking access to some of its nuclear sites and continued to boost its stocks of uranium enriched above the percentage allowed under the JCPOA.
The agency’s Board of Governors is scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss the current problems between Iran and the IAEA, with some analysts believing that it may issue a new anti-Iran resolution.
Gharibabadi hoped wisdom would prevail, warning that Iran would reciprocate “cooperation for cooperation, goodwill for goodwill, [and] action for action”.
Iran and the remaining signatories to the JCPOA have held six rounds of talks in Vienna, which began after the Biden administration voiced willingness to rejoin the nuclear agreement, three years after his predecessor’s withdrawal.
Negotiators took a break from the talks after Ebrahim Raisi won Iran’s June presidential election.
The Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna said in a Thursday tweet that the agency’s Board of Governors must call on both sides to overcome their problems.
Mikhail Ulyanov said the current rift between Iran and the IAEA is the result of interference by “some external factors.”
“There should be no illusion. If a draft resolution on #Iran is tabled in the #IAEA Board of Governors Russia will vote against,” he tweeted separately on Friday.
Ulyanov said diplomacy is the better road to take, adding a resolution against Tehran because it “would be not only senseless but extremely detrimental.”