Iran says any negative resolution by IAEA to harm nuclear talks

By Haydar Sahin

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - Iran will respond appropriately to any decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Hatibzade said a draft resolution submitted to the IAEA Board of Governors is invalid and any anti-Iran decision would harm talks between Tehran and global powers on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He also claimed that the IAEA’s latest report on Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA was indifferent to all the technical answers that Iran had presented, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Iran will not accept the report and efforts of the US and the E3 countries of France, Germany and the UK to present a decision contrary to diplomacy and against the obvious facts, Hatibzade said, adding they do not find this decision to be constructive.

- Meeting in Vienna

A meeting in Vienna has been called to discuss the IAEA's annual report for 2021, which is highly critical of Iran's nuclear program.

The report has prompted the US and its European allies the UK, France and Germany to draft an anti-Iran resolution which, if adopted, is likely to affect Iran's cooperation with the UN nuclear agency.

The meeting, which will continue until Friday, will determine the fate of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Vienna talks, especially if the agency adopts the resolution pushed by the US and E3, according to observers.

Marathon talks in Vienna to revive the JCPOA are currently stalled due to key disagreements between Tehran and Washington.

On May 25, US Special Representative for Iran Robert Malley, who led more than a year of indirect talks with Iran, said the prospects of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are "tenuous" at best.

Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.