Iran accuses UN nuclear watchdog of ‘obscuring truth’ about its nuclear program

ISTANBUL

Iran accused the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday of “obscuring the truth” about the country’s nuclear program.

The accusation came after Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that the watchdog did not have any proof of a systematic effort by Iran to move into a nuclear weapon.

“This is too late, Mr. Grossi: you obscured this truth in your absolutely biased report that was instrumentalized by E3/US to craft a resolution with baseless allegation of 'non-compliance,’” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on his official X account.

Last week, the IAEA found Iran in breach of its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years.

In a resolution pushed by Germany, France, and the UK – the three European signatories of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – and supported by the US, the UN nuclear watchdog accused Iran of “non-compliance” with the nuclear deal.

“The same resolution was then utilized, as a final pretext, by a genocidal warmongering regime to wage a war of aggression on Iran and to launch an unlawful attack on our peaceful nuclear facilities,” Baqaei said, in reference to Israel.

“Do you know how many innocent Iranians have been killed/maimed as a result of this criminal war? Is it how an international civil servant tested for assigning the UN leadership?"

The Iranian spokesman accused the IAEA director of making the UN watchdog “a partner to this unjust war of aggression.”

“You turned IAEA into a tool of convenience for non-NPT members to deprive NPT members of their basic right under Article 4. Any clear conscience?!"

“Misleading narratives have dire consequences, Mr. Grossi, and demand accountability,” Baqaei said.

Hostilities began on Friday when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.

Israeli authorities said at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.

Meanwhile, in Iran, 585 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to Iranian media reports.