TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baqai on Thursday categorically rejected the latest anti-Tehran allegations contained in a statement released by the Group of Seven (G7), dismissing the claims as “baseless and irresponsible.”
His remarks were in response to a joint communiqué released after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Canada’s Niagara region on Wednesday.
In a statement, G7 foreign ministers accused Iran of providing military support to Russia in the Ukraine conflict and called on Iran to fully comply with UN Security Council resolutions and its commitments under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It also called on Iran to restore full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including granting inspection access to all nuclear facilities and materials.
The G7 further pressured Iran, supported by the E3 (France, UK and Germany), to enter direct negotiations with the US, insisting that all UN member states must implement sanctions reimposed on Iran in September through the activation of the so-called snapback mechanism.
On September 19, the UN Security Council voted against permanently lifting pre-JCPOA sanctions against Iran. Just eight days later, the Security Council also rejected a resolution proposed by Russia and China, signatories of the JCPOA along with Iran, calling for a delay in the measures. The next day, E3 announced that all UN sanctions against Iran had been formally reimposed.
The decision effectively dismantled one of the last remaining pillars of the 2015 agreement.
Bakuayi accused the G7 of supporting an “illegal and unwarranted” attempt by the US and E3 to abuse the JCPOA dispute settlement process to reinstate UN Security Council sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. Such support amounts to supporting internationally illegal measures, he said.
He also called attention to “unlawful acts of aggression” by Israel and the United States against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities. “It is hypocritical and interventionist for the G7 to encourage Iran to cooperate with the IAEA while ignoring this joint crime by Israel and the United States,” the spokesperson said.
US and Israeli airstrikes in June targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, the very facilities protected under the framework of the JCPOA. The attack was condemned around the world as an act of blatant aggression.
Baquai went on to reject the G7’s Ukraine-related accusations as “repetitive and baseless” and reiterated Iran’s long-standing position of opposing war and advocating a diplomatic solution to the conflict through dialogue and negotiations.