Iran says: Return of UN inspectors to Iran does not mean full resumption of cooperation

Iran said on Wednesday that the return of UN inspectors does not mean a full resumption of cooperation. According to AFP, Behruz Kamalvand, a spokesperson for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, stated that IAEA inspectors will monitor the fuel replacement at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran. He did not mention whether the inspectors would be allowed to enter other nuclear facilities, including the Fordo and Natanz nuclear facilities, which were attacked during the war.

Since June, when Israel and the United States attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, cooperation between the UN agencies and Iran was temporarily suspended.

IAEA Director General Grossi stated that the IAEA inspection team has returned to Iran. These are the first inspectors to enter Iran since Iran formally suspended its cooperation with the agency last month.

The Iranian state television quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying, "The new cooperation framework with the IAEA has not yet received final text approval, and both sides are exchanging opinions."

On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented attack, targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, military facilities, and residential areas, resulting in over 1,000 deaths. Following this, IAEA inspectors evacuated Iran.

Washington then also joined the attacks on the Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear facilities.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks, killing dozens of Israelis. Iran and Israel have been on ceasefire since June 24.

Iran subsequently suspended cooperation with the IAEA, citing the agency's failure to condemn the Israeli and American attacks.

Under the legal provisions of the suspension of cooperation, inspectors can only enter Iran's nuclear facilities after obtaining approval from Iran's highest security body - the Supreme National Security Council.

Teheran has repeatedly stated that future cooperation with the IAEA will take a "new form."

Grossi told Fox News that the IAEA and Iran are still discussing "what practical measures can be taken to facilitate our resuming work there."

Before the return of the inspectors, Iranian diplomats held talks on Tuesday in Geneva with diplomats from the UK, France, and Germany.

This meeting was the second round of talks since the Israeli attack, and the topics included the European threat to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran before the end of October, in order to prevent the permanent lifting of sanctions on Iran.

According to UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the signatory states of the Iran nuclear deal have the right to initiate the "rapid reinstatement of sanctions" mechanism to respond to Iran's violations, and it is not subject to veto by the permanent members of the UN Security Council. The completion of the initiation procedure means the resumption of the extensive UN sanctions previously imposed on Iran, including conventional arms embargoes, restrictions on ballistic missile development, prohibition of related nuclear technology, asset freezes, etc.

This mechanism is valid until October 18 this year. Since initiating the "rapid reinstatement of sanctions" procedure requires 30 days, the Europeans hope to complete the procedure before Russia assumes the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in October, so they blocked the "last window" in late August to pressure Iran. Previously, the three European countries proposed extending the validity period of the "rapid reinstatement of sanctions" mechanism, i.e., maintaining the mechanism effective but not initiating it, thereby buying time for diplomatic negotiations. They proposed to Iran to resume negotiations with the US, accept IAEA inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, and disclose information about high-enriched uranium stockpiles as conditions.

However, Iran denied the European countries' right to extend the deadline and stated that it is cooperating with its allies China and Russia to prevent the imposition of sanctions again.

According to a draft resolution seen by AFP, Russia distributed an updated proposal on Tuesday at the UN Security Council, aiming to delay the deadline for initiating the "rapid reinstatement of sanctions" by six months to April 18 next year.

Russia's proposal did not set any preconditions for extending the deadline.

Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, stated that their "second version" of the proposal aims to "provide more breathing space for diplomatic negotiations," and added that he hopes the proposal "can be accepted."

He told the media, "This will be a test to see who truly wants to stick to diplomatic efforts, and who doesn't want to solve problems through diplomacy, but instead wants to target Iran for nationalist and self-serving purposes."

Sources: rfi

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841650493065226/

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