TEHRAN – Deputy Minister Kazem Galibabadi on Monday announced that Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would continue post-consultation consultations in Tehran, marking a potential melting of relations after cooperation was suspended in June.
The breakthrough follows Tehran’s call for a fundamental restructuring of its involvement with the UN nuclear watchdog, citing the IAEA’s failure to fulfill its responsibility during the US-Israel attack on US-Israel civil nuclear sites in June.
IAEA Deputy Director Massimo Aparo, who led a delegation of international organizations and although no testing was conducted, both sides agreed to proceed with technical discussions. “It was decided to continue the consultation, taking into account the discussions held during the meeting,” Galibabadi said, emphasizing that future cooperation will depend on meaningful IAEA reforms.
At the latest conference, Iranian delegations strongly criticized the IAEA’s silence in response to recent attacks in response to nuclear facilities in Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz (US support and involvement).
Galibabadi stressed that “strong opposition” to Iranian institutional inaction has been formally reported, calling for corrective action against “inappropriate processes” regarding Iran’s nuclear activity.
The talks unanimously approved a law suspending IAEA cooperation following Iran’s June 25 parliamentary vote. The law requires future inspections to require express approval from Iran’s highest national security council and guarantees of the physical and technical security of nuclear facilities.
Congressional Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalivaf accused the IAEA of becoming a “political tool” after accusing Iran of being a non-intensive violation just days before the Israeli regime attacks.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araguchi exploited the “poor behaviour” of the IAEA in a television interview last week to enable “the most serious violation of international law.”
“The agency refrained from giving a wise and reasonable response and did not condemn it when necessary (the attacks of the US and Israel),” declared Araguchi, saying such accomplice should require a “new chapter” in the relationship. “The previous frameworks stopped working,” he said.
A top Iranian diplomat has made it clear that the discussion will focus solely on the modalities of two-sided cooperation (not testing) taking into account that IAEA access will remain suspended until security assurances are realized.
Iran emphasizes that resuming involvement is aimed at establishing a legally binding framework that ensures non-repetition of IAEA negligence rather than restoring previous arrangements.
Tehran claims that the nuclear program is peaceful and is permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The June attack, which damaged Iran’s civilian nuclear infrastructure and killed some nuclear scientists, stimulated Tehran’s leadership to demand accountability from international organizations like the IAEA.