Iran warns IAEA chief’s remarks are increasingly tainted by politics

 IRNA – The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says Rafael Grossi, the world’s atomic agency chief, has been making politically-tainted comments about Iran recently.

“The director general of the Agency, as the highest ranking official in an internationally important organization, is expected to speak and act consistently impartially, professionally, and without political bias,” the AEOI said in a statement on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, some of Mr. Grossi’s comments and stances, especially recently, are devoid of such qualities,” it added, warning that the standing of the IAEA was at stake.

The Iranian atomic organization said Grossi was enabling the United States and certain other Western countries to misuse the IAEA for their political purposes.

Speaking in Tokyo on the same day, Grossi said Iran should demonstrate that it is not seeking to build nuclear weapons.

The AEOI said in its statement that the onus was on the accusing party to provide proof.

Iran has said repeatedly that its nuclear activities are entirely for civilian purposes. Under a deal reached in 2015, Iran offered the IAEA enhanced access to its nuclear program in return for the promised termination of U.S. and international sanctions.

In his remarks in Tokyo, Grossi said that deal was “no longer fit for purpose.”

The United States withdrew from that agreement during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term in office in 2018 and started to torpedo its implementation by the remaining parties, namely Iran, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Russia.

Trump has said he is keen on negotiating another deal with Iran but has reinstated a campaign of “maximum pressure” on the country. Iranian officials say they would not negotiate under threat and pressure.