Iran has suspended a number of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors assigned to it last month for their “hostile political behaviors,” said Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). In clarifying this point, to exclude any other interpretation of this step on the part of the Iranian authorities, Mohammed Eslami detailed: “The expelled inspectors were from the three European countries that have often displayed hostile political behaviors and therefore, we removed the inspectors from those countries”.
No sooner had the Iranian government made such a decision, as immediately, as if by magic, representatives of three nuclear countries – the United States, Great Britain, France and the not-yet-nuclear Germany spoke out. Having no leverage over sovereign Iran, they called on it to “lift” the ban on inspectors. Where the horse puts its hoof, there the crab sticks its claw – IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that Tehran informed him of its decision to remove several “experienced” agency inspectors from conducting verification activities in Iran. Grossi, who, as Western media writes, is strongly influenced by the United States, criticized Iran’s actions as “disproportionate and unprecedented”.
The question immediately arises, why was the West so agitated, and what was such an emergency? The Iranian authorities have a legitimate right, as well as the IAEA, to agree or not to receiving certain inspectors. There have been such incidents in the past, when Tehran denied some inspectors’ entry because of their low qualifications or incompetence, for their bias or hostility towards Iran. After all, the IAEA is an international organization, not a branch of the United States. Although some world media consider it the same thing, and evil tongues even call the IAEA the “watchdog” of the United States. And Grossi’s last statement in unison with representatives of the four Western countries about Iran confirms this fact.
By the way, the IAEA has more than hundreds of approved inspectors for Iran, and the suspended ones make up only 2-3% of the total number, so what is here to even talk about? Eslami remarked: “The Agency has 127 approved inspectors in Iran, and the people who have been fired have not come to Iran for several years; on the other hand, this number [of dismissed inspectors] is not a big number compared to the number of official inspectors”. Moreover, in his remarks, the representative of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, stated that the removal of IAEA inspectors sent to Iran is permitted and reasonable in accordance with the bilateral safeguards agreement. As for cooperation with the IAEA, Eslami assured that the country’s nuclear activities are fully under the supervision and rules of the agency.
Regarding this incident, the Iranian authorities issued a special statement, which, in particular, says that Iran continues to fulfill its obligations in accordance with the previously signed document, CSA (Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement), and is making every effort to allow the Agency to conduct its verification activities in Iran without hindrance. All of Iran’s nuclear materials and activities have been fully declared and verified by the IAEA. The Islamic Republic of Iran, which has conducted the largest number of inspections to guarantee its peaceful nuclear program, has an exemplary track record of cooperation with the IAEA. Suffice it to say that inspections are carried out in Iran 10 times more often than in other countries, while the size of the country’s nuclear facilities is only about 2% of the world’s nuclear facilities. Another example can be given – the inspections that the Agency conducts in Iran account for about 25% of the inspection operations that it conducts around the world. And after that, who can doubt that the supposedly independent IAEA is not under the strong influence and pressure of the “democratic” United States?
And US officials seem to have succumbed to this kind of false propaganda. Speaking before the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, US President Joe Biden said that Iran may be ready to acquire nuclear weapons. He threatened that the Americans “remain steadfast in our commitment that Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons”. Such reports contradict the countless reports of the IAEA, which unequivocally refute the fact that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Interestingly enough, even in Washington itself, officials simply do not know what to do with Iran and what is the current policy towards the Persian state, which is gaining strength day by day. How else can one view the statement of the US Department of Defense, which noted that Iran does not seek to develop nuclear weapons and thus refutes Western propaganda that it can do this? While American politicians continue to take advantage of Iran’s exaggerated nuclear threat to gain domestic political benefits, the US State Department has clarified the Iranian nuclear program. It said: “In our assessment, Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program at this time”.
The Pentagon’s assessment appeared in a report called the Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, which also reviewed other countries with nuclear programs. The report is the latest confirmation that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and poses no threat to international security, despite false claims to the contrary. In addition, Iranian officials, including the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly stated that Tehran does not seek nuclear weapons because they contradict Islamic teachings that prohibit the use and production of such weapons, given its inhumane consequences.
But despite this, in the spirit of its gangster policy, the United States is urgently creating another military alliance in the Middle East against Tehran. As The Wall Street Journal reported on June 26, citing official sources, the Pentagon held a secret meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) in March, attended by the military leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain. They discussed coordinating actions against Iran’s growing military potential. This was the first time that such a wide range of high-ranking military officials of Israel and Arab countries met under the auspices of the US Armed Forces to discuss the Iranian threat. In particular, they agreed on procedures for mutual notification and repelling air attacks from Iran, although, as is widely known, the Americans themselves and their numerous bases pose the main threat to all the people in the region.
At the same time, the desire of the United States and its Western allies to gain access to Iranian oil and gas, even turning a blind eye to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, has led to the fact that even Israel, which is loyal to Washington and dreams of bombing all Iranian nuclear facilities as soon as possible and killing Iranian nuclear scientists, seems to support the nuclear deal with Iran (JCPOA). “With the expected or possible resumption of the nuclear talks, we will continue to work together with the United States and other countries in order to make our position clear and influence the crafting of the deal – if there is such,” said on June 27, according to Reuters, the Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz. He even acknowledged the creation, with the participation of the United States, of a “Middle East Missile Defense alliance” to counter the missile threat from Iran, without specifying the composition of its participants. Gantz added that defense cooperation in the region may have “other operational dimensions,” clearly hinting at possible missile and bomb attacks on facilities in Iran critical to Israel.
The nuclear doctrine justifying the use of nuclear weapons and lowering the threshold for its deployment, the Tehran Times newspaper stressed, continue to serve as the basis for the nuclear strategies of NATO states. An alarming nuclear arms race continues, with all nuclear-weapon states modernizing their arsenals. As an example, in 2023, the United States and the United Kingdom allocated staggering amounts of $50.9 billion and 3 billion pounds, respectively, for their nuclear weapons programs.
These actions are clear signs of the continued inability of the nuclear-weapon States, especially the NATO member countries led by the United States, to fulfill their disarmament obligations. Iran shares the deep disappointment of non-nuclear-weapon States in the face of this extremely alarming situation and stresses the crucial importance of immediate and full compliance by all nuclear-weapon states with their obligations.
Viktor Mikhin, corresponding member of RANS, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.