Tehran contends that a “biased report” from Rafael Grossi provided justification for Israel’s attack.
Iran has accused Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), of misrepresenting information in an earlier report, which Iran claims paved the way for an Israeli military strike on its nuclear facilities. Tehran characterized Grossi’s actions as a betrayal of the agency’s mission.
In a post on X on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei alleged that Grossi released a “biased report”, which the US and three European nations then leveraged to pass a resolution containing “baseless allegations of non-compliance.”
A report by Grossi earlier this month asserted that “Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that is producing and accumulating uranium enriched to 60%.”
However, in a Tuesday interview with CNN, the IAEA chief stated that UN inspectors have not discovered any evidence suggesting Iran was engaging in “a systematic effort to move into a nuclear weapon.”
“This is too late, Mr. Grossi,” Baqaei stated, referencing Grossi’s remarks to CNN. Baqaei claimed that the report “obscured this truth” and was “instrumentalized… to craft a resolution,” which was then used by a “genocidal warmongering regime” to justify “an unlawful attack” on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Grossi’s report last week prompted the UN nuclear watchdog’s board to determine that Iran had breached its non-proliferation obligations, a first in 20 years. Nineteen of 35 IAEA member states, including the US, UK, France, and Germany, endorsed the motion, citing Iran’s failure to account for undeclared nuclear material and its expanding uranium stockpiles.
Iran dismissed the decision as “political” and declared its intent to construct a new enrichment facility.
Russia has asserted that the “biased, anti-Iranian” resolution created the conditions for Israel’s attacks against the Islamic Republic.
Baqaei stated that Grossi “betrayed the non-proliferation regime,” demanding accountability and issuing a warning that “misleading narratives have dire consequences.”
West Jerusalem has justified its continuous attacks by alleging that Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran has denied these accusations, asserting that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.
Earlier this week, US Senator Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated that US intelligence agencies have found no evidence of Iran pursuing nuclear weapons – a position consistent with their last report from March.