Iran’s Envoy Deplores IAEA’s Resolution, Vows ‘Appropriate’ Response

By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, Kazem Gharibabadi, slammed the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA’s] Board of Governors for adopting a resolution against Tehran, saying that Tehran will take “appropriate action” in response.

“Adoption of this resolution will neither encourage Iran to grant access to the Agency based on fabricated and unfounded allegations nor will it force Iran to come down from its principal positions. Iran categorically deplores this resolution and will take appropriate action in response, the repercussions of which would be upon the sponsors of this resolution,” Gharibabadi said in a statement on Friday after the vote.

The resolution, submitted by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, was adopted by a vote of 25 to 2 with 7 abstentions. It comes at a time when the United States is working to extend an arms embargo against Iran.

In the same respect, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday regretted that the IAEA has chosen to ignore Tehran's long history of cooperation, warning that a new resolution "would somehow complicate Iran’s cooperation with the agency”.

The Trump administration exited the deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] in 2018, but other signatories vowed to salvage it.

Washington is now working to extend a UN-imposed arms embargo due to expire in October under Tehran’s nuclear deal.

According to the IAEA’s 129-page 2019 Safeguards Implementation Report, Iran received the biggest part of the inspections that were carried out worldwide by the atomic organization’s inspectors, and the figure stood at 21 percent of the entire visits made to various nuclear sites.