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Iran’s parliament has approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, state-affiliated news outlet Nournews reported.
The move, which needs the final approval of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to be enforced according to Nournews, follows an air war with Israel in which its longtime enemy said it wanted to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted by state media as also saying Iran would accelerate its civilian nuclear program.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says a resolution adopted this month by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations paved the way for Israel’s attacks.
On 12 June, IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.
Israel on 13 June launched a major bombardment campaign that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
IAEA’s ‘credibility up for sale’
Qalibaf was quoted as saying the IAEA had refused even to appear to condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities and “has put its international credibility up for sale”.
He said that “for this reason, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the Agency until the security of the nuclear facilities is guaranteed, and move at a faster pace with the country’s peaceful nuclear program”.
Parliament’s national security committee approved the bill’s general outline this week and the committee’s spokesperson said the bill would suspend the installation of surveillance cameras, inspections and filing of reports to the IAEA.
The IAEA did not immediately comment on the Iranian parliament’s approval of the bill. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday he was seeking the return of inspectors to Iranian sites including the plants where it was enriching uranium.
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi. Source: EPA / Max Slovencik
The full extent of the damage done to nuclear sites during the Israeli attacks and US bombing of underground Iranian nuclear facilities is not yet clear.
“I think that our view on our nuclear programme and the non-proliferation regime will witness changes, but it is not possible to say in what direction,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Qatar’s Al-Araby Al-Jadeed this week.
In an interview with Qatar’s Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said: “I think that our view on our nuclear program and the non-proliferation regime will witness changes, but it is not possible to say in what direction.”
