UNITED NATIONS, Sept 27 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said yesterday that, his country’s cooperation agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be gone, if UN sanctions were to return.
The UN Security Council, yesterday, failed to adopt a resolution that would have extended the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for six months, to allow time for diplomacy and avoid a snapback of UN sanctions against Iran.
Britain, France and Germany – the three European countries of the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – claimed that, they triggered the snapback mechanism on Aug 28, by notifying the Security Council of Tehran’s “non-performance.”
As such, the snapback is set to take effect on Sept 28 (tomorrow), at the end of a 30-day window, in the absence of further Security Council action.
“Well, we have already said that, this act by E3 (the three European countries) and the decision by the Security Council would affect Iran’s cooperation with the agency,” Araghchi told reporters, after the Security Council vote.
Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement to resume cooperation in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, on Sept 9.
“It is very unfortunate that, if everything is activated, then this agreement between Iran and the agency would also be gone and cannot be implemented,” Araghchi noted.
In his remarks to the Security Council yesterday, Araghchi said, IAEA inspectors are in Iran, doing their job.– NNN-IRNA
