Iran's Letter to the UN Security Council in Response to IAEA Board Resolution

On Thursday, June 7, Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations reacted in a letter to the UN Security Council regarding the IAEA Board's resolution against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Amir Saeed Iravani emphasized in this letter: "The European Troika continues to accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran of non-compliance with its JCPOA commitments while deliberately ignoring the root cause of the current situation." This senior official of the Islamic Republic referred to the United States' withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, which led to the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran. Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, also stated on Tuesday that if Western powers push for the resolution's approval or exert political pressure, the Islamic Republic will certainly respond. In the letter sent to the UN Secretary-General, Amir Saeed Iravani stated: "Iran has so far been subject to the strongest verification and monitoring activities by the agency." Meanwhile, the resolution adopted on Wednesday by the IAEA Board requested the Islamic Republic of Iran to "promptly" respond to the inspectors' questions regarding the origin of uranium particles discovered at its undeclared sites. The resolution described the presence of experienced IAEA inspectors in inspections of Iran's nuclear activities as "vital" and called on Iran to lift the ban on these inspectors. The resolution also stated: The Board "requests Iran to revoke its decision regarding the authorization of several experienced agency inspectors, as their presence is vital for effective verification of Iran's nuclear activities." According to Amir Saeed Iravani, "Tehran's decision to take corrective actions is fully in accordance with its inherent right under Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA in response to the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from this agreement." This senior Iranian official at the UN questioned the claims of France, Britain, and Germany regarding their compliance with JCPOA commitments, asserting that "the three European countries have repeatedly failed to fulfill their obligations under Article 20 of the JCPOA annex," and this "non-compliance" continues. The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in New York also stated: "The Islamic Republic of Iran's commitment to its obligations under the NPT remains intact." Saeed Iravani added: "The claim that Iran's nuclear program has reached a critical and irreversible point, along with claims that Iran's peaceful nuclear activities pose a threat to international peace and security, is completely incorrect and unfounded." Meanwhile, Britain, France, and Germany stated in a statement on Tuesday: "A large part of Iran's nuclear program is unprecedented for a country that does not have a nuclear weapons program." The US representative at the IAEA also stated on Wednesday: "Iran is a country that has had a nuclear weapons program in the past and has secretly begun its enrichment program, and is now increasingly increasing its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, boasting that it is on the brink of achieving nuclear weapons capability." Since the adoption of the previous Board resolution in 2022, the list of issues that the IAEA has faced in Iran has increased, and the new resolution calls on Iran to address these multiple problems. Tehran prevented many senior IAEA experts from joining the inspection team last summer, an act that Rafael Grossi, the agency's director-general, described as "disproportionate and unprecedented" and a "serious blow" to the agency in fulfilling its mission.