(Tehran) Reviving the Iran nuclear deal would be “meaningless” without the closure of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation into Iran’s undeclared sites, said said Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday.
Posted at 4:34 p.m.
“We stressed in the negotiations that all issues (related to the IAEA) must be resolved,” he said at a press conference, because “without the resolution of these issues, talking about agreement no sense “.
During discussions in Vienna to relaunch the so-called JCPOA pact on Iranian nuclear power, Tehran had already demanded that the IAEA complete its investigation into traces of enriched uranium found on three undeclared sites.
The UN nuclear policeman had urged Iran in June to “cooperate”, deploring the absence of “credible” answers from Tehran on the subject.
Questioned last week by the American channel CNN, the director general of the IAEA Rafael Grossi had replied that he had “absolutely no” intention to complete the file in the current state. “This idea that politically we are going to stop doing our job is unacceptable to us,” he added.
Iran wants this file to be settled within the framework of negotiations on the revival of the 2015 agreement, which aims to guarantee the civilian character of its nuclear program.
Former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) withdrew the United States from it in 2018. In response, Tehran gradually freed itself from its nuclear commitments.
Latest announcement to date, Iran has started enriching uranium in one of the cascades of advanced centrifuges recently installed in an underground part of the Natanz plant (center), according to an IAEA report transmitted Monday by M Expanded to Member States.
No meeting with Biden
The Islamic Republic is thus further expanding its nuclear capabilities, even as the talks in Vienna have recently intensified after several months of deadlock.
The European Union had submitted on August 8 to the Iranians and the Americans a “final version” of a text providing for the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran – in particular on oil – in exchange for drastic restrictions on its nuclear program.
In this soap opera which has now been going on since April 2021, hopes of a return to the agreement have been revived in recent days when Washington said it had responded to the European proposal.
Tehran replied that it would “consider carefully the opinion of the United States” and would then transmit “its opinion to the coordinator” of the EU, Josep Borrell.
On Monday, Mr. Raisi rejected the idea of a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the United Nations General Assembly which will open on September 13 in New York (United States).
“There is no advantage to a meeting between me and him […] There is no plan for such a meeting and there will not be,” the Iranian official said.
Asked moreover about the threats of the Jewish State against the Iranian nuclear program, Ebrahim Raïsi sent a warning, affirming that the Israelis “would not have time to take action if they decided to do this kind of stuff”.
“Between the moment of decision-making and its implementation, they have to wonder if it will still exist,” he warned.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday that his army and the Mossad had “received instructions to prepare for all scenarios” to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Nuclear weapons have no place in our defense doctrine,” Mr. Raisi reiterated on Monday.