Iran will suspend cooperation with IAEA if UN sanctions re-imposed: Larijani

Iran’s senior security official has stated that Tehran will terminate its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and cease participation in international weapons inspections if the ‘snapback’ mechanism is enforced and United Nations sanctions are re-imposed.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani made the remark in a September 22 interview with the PBS — the American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network.

“If ‘snapback’ mechanisms are enforced, we will end our participation with the IAEA,” he said.

Larijani reiterated Iran’s firm determination not to pursue a nuclear weapon — either now or in the future — and said the acts of aggression by the United States and Israel against three Iranian nuclear facilities in June had made negotiations a “farce”.

On Friday, the UN Security Council will convene to vote on a resolution proposed by Russia and China to postpone the reimposition of sanctions.

Should the council fail to approve the resolution, the United Nations ‘snapback’ sanctions will be triggered on Saturday.

On September 9, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi reached an agreement on practical modalities to resume cooperation after a meeting in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

It came after the Iranian Parliament unanimously passed legislation requiring the administration to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA following the Israeli-US aggression, which targeted three of the country’s nuclear sites in a clear violation of international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In August, the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, namely Britain, France, and Germany, initiated a 30-day process to activate the so-called snapback mechanism in order to restore all UN Security Council sanctions against Iran. The countdown for re-imposing sanctions is set to expire by the end of September.

Iran has rejected the move as illegitimate, citing the US unilateral withdrawal from the deal – formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the European trio’s decision to align with unlawful sanctions rather than fulfilling their obligations.

In the wide-ranging conversation with FRONTLINE in Tehran, Larijani said, “We have pursued every option and mechanism available for solving this conflict in a peaceful way.”

Larijani said he did not have “any specific information to share” about the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear sites hit by the American bombing or how much the strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program.

The Iranian official, however, said, “In my opinion, Iran’s nuclear program can never be destroyed. Because once you have discovered a technology, they can’t take the discovery away. It’s as if you are the inventor of a certain machine, and the machine is stolen from you. You can still make it again.”

He also warned President Donald Trump of the United States that Iran will never surrender in case of new attacks.

Asked to comment about whether the US-Israeli strikes had disrupted the nuclear activity and if there was anything he could say about an underground site south of Natanz, known as Pickaxe Mountain, Iran’s security chief replied: “No, nothing. We haven’t abandoned any of those locations. But in the future they could possibly continue to run as they currently do or be shut down.”

Larijani said Iran expects the Americans to understand that the Islamic Republic is deserving of the same human rights which they proclaim for themselves and that should act with justice and morals in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.

He cautioned that the US behavior will cause the world to descend into chaos, with the negative consequences that follow.

“The American people did not wish to elect people who will send their soldiers to the grave. They should act properly, and desire for others what they want for themselves.”