TEHRAN: Iran on Wednesday officially suspended its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, a move triggered by the unprecedented Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian formally enacted the suspension on Wednesday.
Last month’s 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel has sharply escalated tensions between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On June 25, a day after a ceasefire took hold, Iranian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to suspend cooperation with the Vienna-based IAEA.
The law aims to “ensure full support for the inherent rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran” under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, with a particular focus on uranium enrichment, according to Iranian media.
Pezeshkian gives the final nod a week after Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with IAEA; US calls move ‘unacceptable’
While IAEA inspectors have had access to Iran’s declared nuclear sites, their current status is uncertain amid the suspension. On Wednesday, US intelligence assessments indicated that strikes on Iranian nuclear sites set the country’s atomic programme back by up to two years, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on Wednesday.
On Sunday, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the inspectors’ work had been suspended but denied any threats against them or IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.
He said the “inspectors are in Iran and are safe”, but “their activities have been suspended, and they are not allowed to access our sites”.
The ISNA news agency cited lawmaker Alireza Salimi as saying the inspectors now needed approval from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to access nuclear sites. Separately, the Mehr news agency cited lawmaker Hamid Reza Haji Babaei as saying Iran would stop allowing IAEA cameras in nuclear facilities.
After parliament passed the bill, it was approved by the Guardian Council and President Masoud Pezeshkian formally enacted the suspension on Wednesday.
US calls move ‘unacceptable’
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Iran’s suspension of cooperation with the IAEA is unacceptable.
“We’ll use the word unacceptable, that Iran chose to suspend cooperation with the IAEA at a time when it has a window of opportunity to reverse course and choose a path of peace and prosperity,” Bruce told a briefing in Washington.
Bruce said Iran must cooperate without delay with the IAEA, including by providing “information required to clarify and resolve long-standing questions regarding undeclared nuclear material in Iran, as well as provide unrestricted access to its newly announced enrichment facility”.
“Iran cannot and will not have a nuclear weapon,” she repeated.
Israeli reaction
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal to trigger the “snapback” mechanism and reinstate all UN sanctions on Iran.
The snapback, set to expire in October, was part of the nuclear accord that collapsed after the United States withdrew in 2018. Iran began scaling back its commitments a year later.
Iranian officials have warned the mechanism could prompt their withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Israel, widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, is not an NPT signatory.
Germany’s foreign ministry spokesman Martin Giese said Iran’s move to suspend cooperation with the IAEA was a “disastrous signal”.
Since the Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Tehran has sharply criticised the IAEA for its silence and condemned a June 12 UN resolution accusing Iran of non-compliance, which Iranian officials say provided a pretext for the attacks.
On Wednesday, senior judiciary official Ali Mozaffari accused Grossi of “preparing the groundwork” for Israel’s raids and called for him to be held accountable. Iran has rejected Grossi’s requests to visit bombed sites, accusing him of “malign intent”. Iran’s Kayhan newspaper on Saturday accused Grossi of being an Israeli spy who should be executed.
On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the parliament vote to halt cooperation reflected the “concern and anger of the Iranian public opinion”.
The 12-day war began when Israel launched a major bombing campaign on Iran and killed Tehran’s top military commanders and nuclear scientists, with Iran responding with waves of missiles and drones launched at Israel. On June 22, the United States launched unprecedented strikes of its own on key Iranian nuclear facilities.
Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2025