Tehran Vows ’Proportionate’ Response to Any Action by IAEA Board Of Governors

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the country will give a "proportionate" response to any measure taken on its peaceful nuclear program during the ongoing meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]’s Board of Governors.

Asked about the possible adoption of an anti-Iran resolution during the Board of Governors’ meeting, Khatibzadeh, who was speaking in a televised interview on Monday, said, “We shall not pass any judgment in advance, but we will give our answers in proportion to any measure that is taken” by the Agency.

He added that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has unfortunately issued a "hasty" report on Iran that he had already presented to the European Parliament.

The Iranian spokesperson then emphasized that the IAEA chief's report "overlooks all the measures and responses that Iran has provided with precision and in a technical way," noting that the report is "not accurate."

Khatibzadeh said that Iran neither accepts the IAEA report nor the efforts by the United States and the three European signatories to the 2015 deal -- France, Britain and Germany -- to push for an anti-Iran resolution at the Board of Governors in contradiction to the principles of diplomacy and in defiance of the ongoing developments.

Iran does not regard the US-E3 resolution as constructive and believes that it will have adverse effects both on Iran-IAEA cooperation and the negotiations between Tehran and the P4+1 group of countries which aim to revive the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], he added.

Khatibzadeh said those who sponsor such a resolution must know that Iran does not accept it and urges all members of the 35-nation board to be wary of ill-intentions of the Zionist regime and reject it.

In such a case, he noted, "the window that Iran has created for diplomacy will be kept open."

The UN nuclear agency on Monday began its regular Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, with Iran’s nuclear issue and Tehran's cooperation with the agency expected to take center stage.

During the event, the Board of Governors is supposed to adopt an anti-Iranian resolution drafted by the European troika and the United States, which aims to accuse Tehran of withholding cooperation with the IAEA and not doing enough to resolve the so-called outstanding issues.

Iran has frequently warned that in case the agency drifts away from its technical nature and makes a politicized decision related to Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, the country will respond in kind.