Iran pushes for IAEA resolution as top council backs nuclear inspections

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council says there will be no inspections if biting UN sanctions are reinstated.

Tehran, Iran – Iran is trying to pass a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear installations at the United Nations global nuclear watchdog as its Supreme National Security Council backed nuclear inspections after strikes by the United States and Israel during a 12-day conflict in June.

Iran’s top nuclear officials are now in Vienna to participate in the 69th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which starts later on Monday and ends on Friday.

They have said they will table a resolution that bans attacks on any nuclear facilities, but have not publicly revealed the language or full text of the document.

After arriving in the Austrian capital, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), told Iranian state media that the conference is a good opportunity to direct attention to IAEA moves, particularly its director, Rafael Grossi, that have raised questions about the agency’s credibility.

“We witnessed the agency’s lack of professional conduct, as this body, without taking any position, did not condemn [attacks on Iran] and instead acted in a very neutral manner – it applied a double standard to perfection,” Eslami said, pointing out that Grossi has repeatedly and explicitly condemned attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.