The United States, Britain, France and Germany on Monday called on Iran to “immediately reverse” its decision to withdraw the accreditation of several high-level inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had warned on Saturday that the “disproportionate and unprecedented” move to ban inspectors would seriously hamper its work in Iran.
Iranian media and a Western diplomat said the decision affected eight inspectors, all from France and Germany.
“Iran must immediately reverse these inspector designations and cooperate fully with the Agency to enable them to provide assurances that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” said the permanent representatives to the IAEA of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. . he said in a joint statement.
The four countries “will continue to firmly support the IAEA and the international safeguards verification regime on which global security depends,” he added.
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IAEA chief Rafael Grossi on Monday also urged Iran to reconsider its decision, warning that Iran’s lack of cooperation would lead to serious consequences.
“If they do not cooperate with the IAEA, they will not get what they want: the guarantees they want to see, the confirmation they want to see, the approval of the international community,” Grossi said in an interview with AFP.
Brussels, which acts as coordinator of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers known as JCPOA, said on Sunday it was “very concerned” about the development.
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In 2015, major world powers reached a deal with Iran under which Tehran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.
But that began to unravel in 2018 when then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions.
Tehran, in turn, has stepped up its nuclear program, while continuing to deny that it harbors ambitions to develop nuclear weapons capabilities.
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Efforts to revive the agreement have been unsuccessful so far.
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