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Parliament’s new law as AEOI’s criterion for working with IAEA: Nuclear chief
In response to questions about the IAEA inspectors’ presence after the activation of the snapback mechanism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal by the European parties to the agreement, Eslami clarified that the presence of IAEA inspectors is now severely restricted and operates strictly under the framework of a bill passed by the Parliament.
On June 25, the Iranian Parliament unanimously passed legislation requiring the government to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA.
It came a day after Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations, managed to impose a halt to Israeli-US aggression that also targeted three of the country’s nuclear sites in a clear violation of international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Eslami explained that the new law sets two conditions: the IAEA must condemn attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and provide a formal guarantee to protect information related to Iran’s nuclear industry.
“Up to this point, the IAEA has not fulfilled its legal duty,” he said, adding that as long as “these measures are not taken, the parliament’s law cannot be implemented.”
Eslami highlighted that the presence of inspectors in Iran is not determined by the agency’s own plans, emphasizing that only two pre-approved inspections — at the Bushehr nuclear facility and the Tehran research reactor — have been authorized, during which inspectors “arrived, conducted their inspections, and then left the country.”
He also said that the construction of eight nuclear power plants in the southern Iranian provinces of Bushehr and Hormozgan under a long-standing agreement with Russia is on the agenda.
“Since the 1980s, the agreement between the governments of Iran and Russia has included the construction of eight large-scale power plants. Four of these power plants with a capacity of 5,000 megawatts have been planned for Bushehr,” he said.
Eslami confirmed that a second cluster of four units will be constructed in Hormozgan Province.