- Talks on reviving the pact have been deadlocked since March.
- That agreement gave Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange.
- Iran and the IAEA had previously said that resolving the issue is necessary.
Iran will respond immediately to any “political” action by the West at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting next week, Tehran’s top diplomat said on Friday.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-warning Abdollahian came a day after the US confirmed it would back a resolution urging Iran to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, despite Tehran’s warnings that such a resolution would jeopardize diplomacy.
“Any political action by the United States and the three European countries in the IAEA would provoke without any doubt a proportional, effective, and immediate response on the part of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Amir-Abdollahian said during a telephone conversation with the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, according to a statement.
The three European countries referred to by Iran’s foreign minister are Britain, France, and Germany.
Tensions have been rising ahead of the meeting, particularly after the IAEA in a report on Monday said it still had questions that were “not clarified”, despite long-running efforts to get Iran to explain the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites.
Iran and the IAEA had previously said that resolving the issue of the sites is necessary for efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
That agreement gave Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities, measures aimed at preventing it from developing an atomic bomb.
Iran has always denied seeking such a weapon.
The US unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump and reimposed biting sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to roll back its nuclear commitments and leaving the agreement hanging by a thread.
Talks on reviving the pact have been deadlocked since March.
Read more: Iran’s UN representative slams US sanctions
Amir-Abdollahian said the move by Washington and the three European states in favor of a resolution is “an act contrary to diplomatic practice, hasty and unconstructive.”
It will “make the process of negotiation more difficult and complicated,” the statement added.
On Friday Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned the head of the IAEA that Israel was prepared to use its “right to self-defense” to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
The remarks came after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi met Bennett during a whirlwind visit on Friday morning.
Israel and Iran are arch-foes, and the Jewish state is vehemently opposed to the 2015 agreement, which it sees as a security threat.
Grossi’s visit to Israel, according to Amir-Abdollahian, also violated the IAEA’s neutrality principle.
