A censure motion put forward by Western governments at the International Atomic Energy Agency “will weaken and disrupt” Iran‘s dealings with the UN watchdog, it warned ahead of the vote on Thursday.
Britain, France, Germany and the United States have submitted a text to the IAEA board of governors condemning Iran for alleged lack of cooperation with the agency and its monitors.
The vote, scheduled for later on Thursday, comes after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Iran last week and toured two uranium enrichment plants that have been at the centre of Western concerns.
“This inappropriate action of the three European countries to issue a resolution against Iran will only weaken and disrupt interactive processes between the agency and Iran,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement.
In comments to Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen television, Araghchi underlined that Iran remained keen to cooperate with the agency, despite the move by the three European governments.
“We have a real determination to work with the agency and resolve the remaining issues, but Europe’s move is at odds with this process,” Araghchi said.
On Wednesday, deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi accused the European governments of using the IAEA as a “political tool”.
The draft motion drawn up by Western governments calls for a “comprehensive report” from Grossi by spring 2025 “at the latest”.
It also demands “credible technical answers” for the presence of unexplained uranium traces at two sites Iran did not declare as part of its nuclear programme.
Araghchi warned earlier that Iran “will respond in a proportionate and appropriate manner,” if the resolution passed.
The foreign minister was Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator when it secured a landmark 2015 agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Western intelligence services have accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition it has repeatedly denied.
Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear programme monitored by the IAEA as part of a landmark 2015 deal with major powers that saw most international sanctions lifted.
But three years later, US president Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.
The following year, Iran started to roll back some of its own commitments under the deal, significantly increasing its stocks of uranium enriched to 60 percent.
That level still falls well short of the 90 percent plus level required for a nuclear warhead but is substantially higher than the 3.67 percent limit it agreed to in 2015.
