Iran’s president on Wednesday warned Western states against rebuking Tehran at the U.N. atomic watchdog after its latest reports criticized his country.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in reports to member states that there had been no progress on two central issues: explaining uranium traces found at several old, undeclared sites and getting urgent access to some monitoring equipment so that the IAEA can continue to keep track of parts of Iran’s nuclear programme.
According to Iranian state media President Ebrahim Raisi said in a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel, that in the event of a counterproductive approach at the IAEA, it would not make sense to expect Iran to react constructively.
Tuesday’s criticism by the IAEA means the United States and its European allies must now decide whether to push for a resolution at next week’s meeting of the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors pressuring Iran to yield.
In 2018 then-President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal, under which Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions.
The Islamic Republic responded to the Trump administration’s withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions by violating many of those restrictions.
Indirect talks between U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration and Iran on how both countries could return to compliance with the deal have not resumed since Raisi, an anti-Western hardliner, took office on Aug.
Speaking in Germany, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said time was running out for Iran to return to that accord.
Western diplomats have said that a decision on how to respond to the IAEA reports has yet to be reached.
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