Anti-Teheran resolution proposal 'irresponsible'

TEHERAN－Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday slammed the move by the United States and the E3 group of France, the United Kingdom and Germany to propose the anti-Teheran resolution to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency as "irresponsible", while nuclear talks were underway to reach an agreement.

Making the remarks in a meeting with the new Swiss Ambassador to Teheran Nadine Olivieri Lozano, Raisi said the move was also "in violation of the spirit of negotiation and agreement and indicative of the four countries' contradictory behavior", according to the Iranian presidency's website.

He stressed that the US should decide to remain committed to the requirements of the negotiation and agreement.

Raisi noted that the US and the three European countries are suffering from a miscalculation toward Teheran, expressing hope that Switzerland's new ambassador would reflect the reality of Iran to other states so that they realize that despite all the hostilities, the Islamic republic has continued its progress and that hegemonic policies have had the reverse impact on it.

In June, the IAEA's board of governors passed an anti-Iran resolution proposed by the US, Britain, France and Germany following the agency's reports that Teheran had not provided "technically credible explanations" for uranium particles at three undeclared sites.

Iranian officials, however, have insisted that the country did not carry out any clandestine or unrecorded nuclear activities.

In the wake of the adoption of the IAEA resolution, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced its decision to take a number of measures, including turning off the IAEA's surveillance cameras at its sites.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. However, then-US president Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the landmark deal in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Teheran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

Political differences

Talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April last year in Vienna, but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Iran and the US.

After a three-month suspension, the talks resumed last week in the Qatari capital Doha, but they failed to result in any agreement to settle the remaining differences.

Also on Monday, an Iranian government spokesman said the US had constantly violated Iranians' economic rights by imposing illegal sanctions and threatening children's right to health by restricting the country's access to medicine.

Making the remarks in a tweet, Ali Bahadori Jahromi stressed that "no other nation in the world has been a target of and, thus, understood US human rights crimes more than Iran".

Iran has been a target of cruel US sanctions over the past four decades. Although Washington claims that medicine and medical devices are not on the sanctions list, Teheran cannot import these items in practice due to restrictions on its banking sector.

Xinhua