Iran raps IAEA chief for betraying non-proliferation regime, facilitating Israeli aggression

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Thursday lashed out at the UN nuclear chief agency Rafael Grossi for “betraying the non-proliferation regime.”

In a statement, Baghaei said the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had turned the UN agency into an “accomplice” in this unjust and invasive war.

Grossi has come under fire for paving the way for the Israeli regime’s unprovoked and unjust aggression against the Islamic Republic, which has since Friday led to the assassination of a number of high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

Days before the aggression was launched, IAEA released a politically-motivated report accusing Iran of “non-compliance,” which was followed by a resolution against the country at the IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, pushed by the European troika.

The report and the subsequent resolution, according to experts, facilitated the Israeli regime’s brutal aggression, only two days ahead of the sixth round of Iran-US indirect nuclear talks in the Omani capital Muscat.

Baghaei, in his statement on Thursday, said the UN nuclear agency chief’s “misleading narratives” carry destructive consequences and he must be answerable for it.

“You have turned the agency into a tool in the hands of the parties that are not committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so they can violate the rights that the committed parties enjoy under Article 4 of the treaty,” the spokesperson stressed.

Former Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif also took to X to slam Grossi’s “irresponsible and fallacious IAEA report, which he said caused “irreparable damage to the agency.”

“He must be held accountable for his complicity in the death of innocents in Iran caused by Israeli aggression using his report as a pretext.”

According to documents recently acquired by Iranian intelligence agencies, Grossi has had secret contacts with the Israeli regime officials despite the regime not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

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