Iran has not ceased its cooperation with IAEA: FM

TEHRAN, Jul. 12 (MNA) – The Iranian Foreign Minister has said that Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency has not stopped, stressing that Europe's insistence on snapback mechanism would end their role in Iran's atomic file.

The top Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi made the comments in an address to a meeting with ambassadors, chargés-de-affaires, and heads of foreign missions in Tehran at the foreign ministry's compound on Saturday. 

He said that Iran is greateful to all those countries that condemned the recent Israeli aggression on Iran, saying that "About 120 countries condemned the aggression of the Zionist regime and the United States against Iran."

Araghchi said elsewhere that the cooperation with the IAEA has not stopped," adding that "Iran has been an obedient member of the NPT and has cooperated with the Agency."

"Our cooperation with the Agency has not stopped, it has just got a new form. From now on, relations with the Agency will be managed by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)."

"The Agency's request to continue cooperation with Iran will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the SNSC, and decisions will be made with taking into account safety and security," the minister explained.

"Security and safety are a matter of concern for inspectors approaching attacked nuclear facilities," he elaborated.

"The fact of the matter is that our nuclear facilities were attacked and that proximity to these facilities currently poses risks, including the spread of radioactive materials or explosions, and we think, the issue of security and safety is a matter of concern for inspectors when they approach these facilities."

Meanwhile, he stressed that "There is no other way ahead but returning to diplomacy." 

"There is no other way but to return to diplomacy and a negotiated and agreed solution, and the recent war proved this even more than before."

"But before that, the other side must reassure us that they want diplomacy, rather than they use diplomacy as a cover to achieve their objectives," Araghchi underscored in an apparent reference to the fact that the aggressor Israeli regime and the United States initiated the war on Iran on June 13 while there were preparations for the sixth round of Omani mediated talks in Rome in place slated to be held on June 15.