Iran says cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog will take 'new form'

Iran says cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog will take 'new form'
By Ramin KHANIZADEH
Tehran (AFP) July 12, 2025

Iran said Saturday its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency "will take on a new form", expressing a desire for a diplomatic solution to resolve concerns over its nuclear programme.

Iran's 12-day war with Israel last month, sparked by an Israeli bombing campaign that hit military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, rattled its already shaky relationship with the UN nuclear watchdog.

The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations, which have since stalled.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA "has not stopped, but will take on a new form", after the Islamic republic formally ended cooperation with the UN watchdog in early July.

Iran has blamed the IAEA in part for the June attacks on its nuclear facilities, which Israel says it launched to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has repeatedly denied.

The United States, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

Araghchi said requests to monitor nuclear sites "will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis... taking into account safety and security issues", and be managed by Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

- 'Assurances'-

In early July, a team of IAEA inspectors left Iran to return to the organisation's headquarters in Vienna after Tehran suspended cooperation.

The talks were aimed at regulating Iran's nuclear activites in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Before agreeing to any new meeting, "we are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires", said Araghchi, who also serves as Iran's lead negotiator.

He said that any talks would focus only on Iran's nuclear activities, not its military capabilities.

"If negotiations are held... the subject of the negotiations will be only nuclear and creating confidence in Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions," he told diplomats in Tehran.

"No other issues will be subject to negotiation."

Araghchi also warned that reimposing UN sanctions could eliminate Europe's role in the process.

- Enrichment -

"Such measures would signify the end of Europe's role in the Iranian nuclear dossier," Araghchi said.

A clause in the 2015 nuclear agreement, which US President Donald Trump withdrew from during his first term, allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed if Iran is found to be in breach of the deal.

Araghchi stressed that any new nuclear deal must uphold Iran's right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

"I would like to emphasise that in any negotiated solution, the rights of the Iranian people on the nuclear issue, including the right to enrichment, must be respected," he said.

"We will not have any agreement in which enrichment is not included."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the BRICS summit in Rio on Monday that Moscow would remain a committed ally of Iran and support its nuclear programme.

"Russia has technological solutions for uranium depletion and is ready to work with Iran in this field," Lavrov said, as reported by Russian state news outlet TASS.

Nobel laureate Mohammadi says Iran issuing death threats
Oslo (AFP) July 11, 2025 - Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, who won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for women's and human rights in Iran, has received death threats from Tehran, the Nobel Committee said Friday.

Mohammadi, who has spent much of the past decade behind bars, was released from Tehran's Evin prison in December for a limited period on medical leave, with her legal team repeatedly warning that she could be re-arrested at any time.

Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said in a statement he had received an "urgent phone call" from Mohammadi, 53, who said her life was now in danger.

"The clear message, in her own words, is that 'I have been directly and indirectly threatened with 'physical elimination' by agents of the regime'," he said.

"The threats conveyed to Ms. Mohammadi make it clear that her security is at stake, unless she commits to end all public engagement within Iran, as well as any international advocacy or media appearances in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression," the statement added.

The Committee said it was "deeply concerned" about the threats against Mohammadi and "all Iranian citizens with a critical voice, and call upon the authorities to safeguard not only their lives, but also their freedom of expression."

Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's widespread use of capital punishment and its mandatory dress code for women.

She won the Nobel primarily for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran. Her children collected the award on her behalf as she was in prison at the time.