IAEA Resolution Would Not Help Efforts to Resolve Outstanding Issues

A resolution against Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors would not help address the safeguards matters and would only disrupt the process of technical cooperation, a senior Iranian diplomat said. 
“We are opposed to this course of action,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said at a regular press briefing on Monday, ISNA reported. 
The global nuclear watchdog has raised questions about uranium traces that it claims have been found at three undeclared sites in Iran. The director general has once rejected Iran’s explanation as not credible, paving the way for a resolution against Iran by the IAEA board in June. 
Tehran argues that the IAEA investigation is based on fabricated data provided by hostile countries, and therefore invalid. 
The United States, Britain, France and Germany are now pushing for a new resolution and have sent a draft to other countries on the 35-nation Board of Governors ahead of a quarterly meeting that starts on Wednesday.
Kanaani said these countries are trying to create a campaign to impose political pressure on Iran. 
“Despite Iran’s close and constant interaction with the IAEA, unfortunately we are witnessing a hasty and unconstructive behavior by these countries,” he said. 
Such approaches, while technical negotiations between the Iranian delegation and the agency are underway, are “regrettable”, he added. 
An Iranian team have recently been to Vienna, Austria, to hold talks with IAEA officials where they agreed on the next steps, according to Kanaani and a delegation from the agency are expected to visit Tehran in near future to pursue the negotiations. 
Kanaani also said these countries have already once issued a resolution against Iran, which showed the proportionate response. 
“We advise European countries to show wise behavior … since such unconstructive behavior will disrupt the course of diplomacy,” he said. 
Iran would continue its cooperation with the agency and hopes it would address the issues free of the pressure from a few countries, Kanaani said. 

Past Issues 

Kanaani later said the IAEA claims are related to past issues that had already been resolved when the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed. 
Technical reports were presented by Iran back then and inspections were carried out by the agency, based on which the JCPOA was signed, he said, highlighting 15 consecutive IAEA reports that confirmed the peaceful nature of the country’s nuclear program. 
“Raising issues of this kind is an excuse for not implementing agreements within the framework of the JCPOA.” 
Since part of the issues with the IAEA are related to talks on the revival of the deal, some negotiating parties are trying to negatively impact cooperation between Iran and the agency to distort the talks, Kanaani said. 
He was referring to indirect negotiations in Vienna between Iran and the US to work out how they can both resume compliance with the agreement. 
The JCPOA promised sanctions relief to Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear program, but the US pulled out in 2015 and reimposed sweeping sanctions that prompted the Islamic Republic to row back on its commitments in response. 
Vienna talks have been stalled for months over remaining differences, including the safeguards issue. 
The spokesman said, however, that communication channels are active and the exchange of messages is still underway through the European Union coordinator. 
“To advance the negotiations and reach a conclusion, Iran has submitted new initiatives which have been communicated [to the US],” he said. 
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has also held talks with EU coordinator Josep Borrell a day earlier where they discussed the latest issues and ways to preserve the course of negotiations to reach an agreement.