TEHRAN – Iran on Monday pledged “proportionate” response to any measure taken on its peaceful nuclear program during the ongoing meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s Board of Governors.
The announcement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh came as the IAEA begun its regular board meeting in Vienna, with Iran’s nuclear issue and cooperation with the UN nuclear agency expected to take center stage.
Asked about the possible adoption of an anti-Iran resolution, Khatibzadeh said, “We shall not pass any judgment in advance, but we will give our answers in proportion to any measure that is taken” by the Agency.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has unfortunately issued a “hasty” report on Iran that he had already presented to the European Parliament, the spokesman said.
The IAEA chief’s report “overlooks all the measures and responses that Iran has provided with precision and in a technical way”, Khatibzadeh said, noting that the report is “not accurate”.
Iran, he said, accepts neither the IAEA report nor the efforts by the U.S. and the three European signatories to the 2015 deal -- France, Britain and Germany -- to push for an anti-Iran resolution at the Board of Governors in contradiction to the principles of diplomacy and in defiance of the ongoing developments.
Iran does not regard the U.S.-E3 resolution as constructive and believes that it will have adverse effects both on Iran-IAEA cooperation and the negotiations between Tehran and the P4+1 group of countries which aim to revive the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he added.
Khatibzadeh said those who sponsor such a resolution must know that Iran does not accept it and urges all members of the 35-nation board to be wary of ill-intentions of the Zionist regime and reject it.
In such a case, he noted, “the window that Iran has created for diplomacy will be kept open”.
Iran has frequently warned that in case the agency drifts away from its technical nature and makes a politicized decision related to Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, the country will respond in kind.
In a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said the “unconstructive” move by the U.S. and its European allies to push for the anti-Tehran resolution would disrupt the process of the JCPOA revival negotiations.
The top Iranian diplomat warned that the parties obstructing the diplomatic path bear responsibility for the consequences of any potential resolution against the Islamic Republic during a meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors.
The meeting came as a pause in the marathon negotiations to salvage the JCPOA entered its third month, with prospects described by Washington as “tenuous at best.” Tehran blames the U.S. and its allies France, Britain, and Germany for failing to act constructively.