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Iran
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi pictured during a televised interview, on September 4, 2021. Photo: handout/president.ir
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iranian president on Wednesday said his government is serious about cooperating with monitoring of its nuclear program, but it would be “illogical” to expect this to continue if the UN’s atomic energy agency adopts an “unconstructive approach,” a day after the watchdog said its work in Iran has been undermined.
“It is natural that in case of an unconstructive approach at the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], the expectation that Iran reacts in a constructive way is illogical,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told European Council President Charles Michel in a phone call on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the IAEA said that Iran is undermining the agency’s monitoring tasks by suspending some inspections of its nuclear activities. "Since 23 February 2021, the Agency's verification and monitoring activities have been seriously undermined as a result of Iran's decision to stop the implementation of its nuclear-related commitments,” read a report from the agency.
The IAEA said Tehran had failed to engage with the agency for a number of months and called on Iran to “immediately” rectify the situation as the agency’s knowledge of its nuclear program is declining.
Raisi asserted that Iran has cooperated with the monitor. “The serious cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the IAEA is a clear example of Iran's will for transparency in its nuclear activities.”
After Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions in 2018, Iran steadily walked back on its obligations under the nuclear accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), boosting its enrichment of uranium and bringing more advanced centrifuges online.
Raisi told Michel that “Iran has never violated” the deal, adding that it was the Americans who broke the agreement.
Michel said in a tweet that “the EU will continue working with all participants and the US to ensure full implementation of the agreement.”
Discussions to bring the United States back into the deal, lifting sanctions, and bringing Iran back to full compliance with its nuclear obligations were making progress earlier this summer, but were suspended pending the inauguration of Raisi. More than a month into Raisi’s administration, the talks still have not resumed.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Germany with his German counterpart Heiko Maas on Wednesday said time is running out to save the agreement.
"I'm not going to put a date on it, but we are getting closer to the point at which a strict return to compliance with the JCPOA does not reproduce the benefits that that agreement achieved, because as time goes on and as Iran continues to make advances in its nuclear program, including spinning more sophisticated centrifuges, enriching more material, learning more, there is a point at which it would be very difficult to regain all of the benefits of the JCPOA,” he told reporters.
“We're not at that point yet, but it's getting closer,” he added.
In August, both Washington and the European Union urged Iran to return to the Vienna talks.
Though Iran is steadily improving its uranium enrichment capabilities, it has on several occasions said its goal is not development of a nuclear weapon.
Updated at 8:37pm
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