TEHRAN - The director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Muhammad Eslami says it has received messages from the International Atomic Energy Agency that show the UN agency is going to close down the case of nuclear material in alleged Iranian sites.
Eslami says he hopes the IAEA is sincere in its message and does not waste more time, warning that they cannot pressure Iran by such allegations.
The official added that the key point is that the current will for political pressure against Iran should be replaced by the political will to close down the case of the country at the IAEA.
The vice president noted that Iran is engaged in no unannounced nuclear activity and the country’s nuclear program is under the full supervision of the agency.
Eslami said Iran is subject to some 25 percent of the inspections the IAEA is conducting around the world, while hosting just around 2 percent of the global nuclear capacity.
He further said there are signs that Europeans have decided to close down Iran’s nuclear case, though he said this is aimed at getting a nuclear agreement that helps them buy time and weaken Iran.
The official stressed that they do not want Iran to have the full nuclear fuel cycle.
Head of the Russian delegation Mikhail Ulyanov says talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal are “too much dependent” on the U.S. domestic political schedule, hinting at the mid-term Congressional elections in the United States set to be held in November.
“The talks are too much dependent on the domestic political schedule of another participant,” Ulyanov said in a tweet.
The senior Russian diplomat criticized the “unfair” attempts to put all the blame on Iran.
“Finger pointing seems to be a sign that the #ViennaTalks are at a stalemate” stemming from a number of “various factors,” he said.
Ulyanov’s tweet came after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the Vienna talks’ coordinator, told reporters in New York that he saw no prospect of any progress during this week’s annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
“There is a proposal from the (EU) coordinator on the table and it will remain on the table. I don’t see a better solution and it won’t become caduc (null and void),” Borrell said.
The United States, under former president Donald Trump, abandoned the multilateral nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and reinstated unilateral sanctions that the agreement had lifted.
The talks to salvage the agreement kicked off in the Austrian capital city of Vienna in April last year, months after Joe Biden succeeded Trump, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.
Despite notable progress, the U.S.’s indecisiveness and procrastination caused multiple interruptions in the marathon talks.