IAEA chief urges Iran to revise decision over inspectors

“We have to ask them to review this decision,” Grossi said in an interview with AFP.

“If they do not cooperate with the IAEA, they will not get what they want: the assurances they want to see, the confirmation they want to see, the approval of the international community,” added Grossi, apparently repeating the rhetoric of the western parties of the 2015 nuclear deal.

The United States, Britain, France, and Germany also called on Iran to “immediately reverse” its decision.

“Iran must immediately reverse these inspector de-designations and fully cooperate with the Agency to enable them to provide assurances that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” the permanent representatives to the IAEA of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced in a joint statement.

Tehran has withdrawn the designation of eight French and German inspectors with the IAEA The Iranian authorities withdrew the licenses in response to a statement by the IAEA’s Board of Governors on Wednesday, sponsored by the UK, France and Germany and the United States, that accused Iran of non-compliance with its safeguards commitments.

Iran slammed the move as “hostile” and “unconstructive”, saying it came “despite Iran’s positive, constructive and continuous interaction with the IAEA.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani stated on Saturday the US and the three European parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with the West, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), abused the UN nuclear watchdog with the purpose of achieving their own political objectives.

Kanaani added Iran made the decision in accordance with Article 9 of the agreement with the IAEA for safeguards issues.