Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)—an official appointed by the Iranian regime—again repeated the regime’s accusations against the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said Iran remains under pressure and is told that if it takes any action, it will be attacked again. For non-Iranian readers: the AEOI is the regime’s nuclear authority responsible for all nuclear facilities.
On Sunday, November 16, at a state-run conference titled “International Law Under Attack, Aggression and Defense,” Eslami said: “We are constantly facing threats. Every day we are threatened that if you take any action, we will attack again.”
The United States and Israel have repeatedly emphasized that they will not allow Iran’s regime to acquire a nuclear weapon.
IAEA Director: Iran Must Improve Cooperation to Prevent Tensions with West
During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran’s regime, seven B-2 bombers took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in the United States as part of “Operation Midnight Hammer” and targeted the regime’s nuclear sites.
Repeated criticism of the IAEA
Eslami also repeated his criticism of the IAEA on Sunday, saying: “The first place Israel bombed in the 12-day war was a factory that produced plate fuel for the Tehran reactor, and the information about this location was only in the possession of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
In the latest round of meetings of the G7 foreign ministers, the group called on Iran’s regime to fully cooperate with the IAEA.
But Eslami said: “Before seeking to prepare a new modality, the Agency must first redefine itself and determine its position and responsibility regarding conditions in which a military attack has taken place and facilities have been damaged, and on that basis engage in dialogue with us.”
He added that unless a procedure for the Agency’s inspections is defined, political pressure on Iran’s regime will have no effect.
At the same time, Mohammad Marandi, a former adviser to Tehran’s nuclear negotiating team under Ebrahim Raisi, announced that Iran’s regime “will not provide any unnecessary information” to the IAEA. For non-Iranian readers: Marandi frequently appears in state-run media as a commentator defending regime nuclear policies.
Araghchi: We are in dialogue with the Agency
At the same time, Abbas Araghchi, the current foreign minister of Iran’s regime, said on Sunday that there are rules for working with the IAEA, and cooperation will continue as long as those rules are respected.
Araghchi reported that the ambassadors of Iran’s regime, Russia, and China met with the IAEA director-general, saying that dialogue is ongoing between Tehran and the Agency.
He said there are no undeclared enrichment facilities in Iran and that enrichment is currently not taking place because the facilities were attacked.
On November 12, the International Atomic Energy Agency stated in a confidential report that since the U.S. and Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran during the 12-day war, it has lost the ability to verify Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels.
According to the Agency’s latest official report in September, Iran’s regime possesses 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60%, a level only one technical step away from 90% weapons-grade enrichment.
The director-general of the IAEA has warned that this amount of uranium could be sufficient to produce up to ten nuclear bombs if Iran decided to build such weapons, although he emphasized that no such decision has been made.
Iran’s regime concerned about a new resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors
Kazem Gharibabadi, a deputy foreign minister of Iran’s regime, expressed concern on Sunday at the margins of the state-run conference about a possible new resolution against the regime at the IAEA Board of Governors. For non-Iranian readers: Gharibabadi previously served as Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA.
He said: “If a resolution is presented and adopted at the Board of Governors meeting, our situation will be different, and we will fundamentally reconsider our approach, and Iran must re-examine its policies regarding interaction with the Agency and issues related to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
He added: “It is not that this resolution has an effect, but rather the message it sends, and this resolution sends the message that interaction and cooperation are not important to them.”
Earlier, Iran’s regime’s permanent mission to the UN in Vienna wrote on X on Friday night that the United States and three European countries intend to present a draft resolution against Tehran at next week’s IAEA Board of Governors meeting.
The IAEA Board of Governors is expected to address issues including Iran’s regime’s nuclear file in its upcoming meeting next Wednesday.
