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Iran warns IAEA ‘confrontation’ undermines prospects of diplomatic solution
Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Vienna warned against any anti-Iran move at the UN nuclear agency, saying that “coercion and confrontation” undermine prospects of a diplomatic solution.
The warning came as the United States is lobbying other countries on the UN nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors to back a draft resolution demanding Iran to provide "precise" information on its enriched uranium stockpile and give the UN nuclear agency access to its nuclear sites "without delay".
The US-drafted text was seen by media on Sunday and circulated ahead of this week's quarterly meeting of the 35-nation board.
The draft resolution is expected to be submitted for a vote this week to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that started meeting on Monday.
Last week, the IAEA in a confidential report reiterated that the lack of access to nuclear sites in Iran constituted a "proliferation concern".
The draft resolution affirms that it is "essential and urgent" that Iran "without delay" provides the agency with "precise information on nuclear material accountancy and safeguarded nuclear facilities in Iran".
"The board should be cautious on the path forward. Coercion and confrontation do not lead to cooperation, it undermines prospects of a diplomatic solution," the Iranian mission said in a message posted on its X account on Monday.
The message described the US-Israeli bombings of Iranian facilities as the main reason behind differences between Iran and the IAEA, saying, "The present circumstances with regard to Iran nuclear cooperation with the #IAEA are a direct consequence of 17 waves of illegal armed attacks by the US-Israeli regime against Iranian safeguarded peaceful nuclear facilities as well as ongoing grave threats".
Calling the IAEA's stance on the aggression against Iranian facilities "unprecedented in IAEA history," the mission argued that "responsibility for an internationally wrongful act rests with the perpetrator and cannot be transferred to the victim."
"The Board must not be instrumentalized to relieve those who carried out these attacks of their responsibility," it added.