Speaking on Monday to reporters about the activation of the snapback mechanism and renewed calls by Europe for negotiations, Baqaei criticized the approach of the UK, France, and Germany as “irresponsible and destructive,” particularly in recent months.
He said the three countries had misused the dispute resolution mechanism to impose Washington’s demands on Tehran.
According to Baqaei, all three conditions set by the Europeans were unreasonable. Nevertheless, Iran chose to engage in discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which resulted in an understanding aimed at creating a new framework for cooperation — a framework the Agency initially welcomed but was later rejected.
He added that the conditions set by the three European states for entering talks with the United States were illogical, and they failed to present themselves as independent actors. “Therefore, the situation will be different from now on,” he stated.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed that the diplomatic path is never completely closed and that “whenever we conclude that diplomacy can deliver results, we will not hesitate to use it.”
Baqaei also reacted to comments by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who claimed that his latest report was unrelated to the US and Israeli attacks on Iran. He argued that the IAEA report and the Europeans’ misuse of it to pass a resolution against Iran had created a pretext for those attacks. “For this reason,” Baqaei said, “the Agency should have condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
