Iran says any IAEA resolution to impact cooperation with UN nuclear body

“The resolution, which they say has undergone certain revisions over the past few days, shows, in our view, an unconstructive stance and has a negative effect on negotiations about the JCPOA (the 2015 Iran nuclear deal) and Iran's view of and cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” the Iranian president's chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, told reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“This is not a friendly approach and needs to be rectified before it is too late,” he added.

The three European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal -- France, the UK and Germany -- are set to put forward a US-backed resolution on Tehran’s cooperation with the IAEA to the quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors this week.

"The nuclear tensions will lead us in the coming days to lodge a complaint in the framework of the IAEA Board of Governors to regret this decision," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday called on the parties to the nuclear agreement not to miss the remaining chances to revive it, warning that any “unconstructive” move at the UN nuclear watchdog’s upcoming board meeting will complicate the stalemate surrounding the accord.

“Any unconstructive move or stance at the [IAEA] Board of Governors can lead to new challenges and complicate the existing situation,” Rouhani said in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also warned against a likely anti-Iran resolution by the IAEA Board of Governors, saying the Islamic Republic has some options to take in case “reason does not prevail” on the other side.

“We have provided the necessary explanations about these conditions to all members of the Board of Governors. We hope that reason will prevail, and if that does not happen, we have options to take,” Zarif said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on Monday.

Russia, another party to the JCPOA, has also warned about the adoption of such a resolution.

In a series of posts published on his Twitter page on Wednesday, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said that the UN nuclear agency’s board faces a “great challenge” at the upcoming session on the Iranian nuclear program and said any hostile move by the IAEA’s Board of Governors against Iran would undermine prospects for the restoration of the JCPOA.

The IAEA meeting comes against the background of a halt by Iran of its voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol that allowed the UN nuclear agency to carry out short-notice inspections at Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The suspension was the latest in a series of measures by Iran in response to draconian sanctions by the US following its withdrawal from the deal, and the failure of other parties to the agreement to shield business with Iran.

Iran says it is open to resolving issues but has stressed that it will not reverse its countermeasures as long as the sanctions remain in place, arguing compliance is a two-way street.

“Our position is clear: sanctions must be lifted, and both European countries and the United States must take very clear action, and in return we will do the same after we have verified and made sure [of their measures]. There was some disagreement; It was decided that we would think more about the ideas that were put forward and that they would think more [on our idea], and that communication and contacts would be established at the expert level,” Vaezi said in his Wednesday remarks.

Meanwhile, the IAEA head has said the issue of nuclear inspections in Iran should not be used as a "bargaining chip" in any talks on the nuclear deal.

"The inspection work of the IAEA must be preserved... (it) should not be put in the middle of a negotiating table as a bargaining chip," Rafael Grossi told reporters ahead of the meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors in Vienna on Monday.