US blocks Iranian nuclear chief from UN watchdog meeting

The US has violated international law by pressuring Austria to prevent Iran’s nuclear chief from attending a UN nuclear watchdog event in Vienna, Iran has said.

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), was blocked from participating in an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting this week after the US refused to grant him a sanctions waiver, Iranian media reported.

“Such acts violate the host country’s obligations under the Headquarters Agreement between the IAEA and Austria. That agreement obliged the host government to take all necessary measures to facilitate the entry of representatives of Member States into Austrian territory,” Iran’s mission in Vienna said in a statement on X on Monday.

Austria submitted a request to the UN Security Council sanctions committee for an exception to the travel ban, but it was denied, Christian Ebner, the country’s envoy to the UN mission in Vienna, said.

Reza Najafi, Iran’s envoy to international organizations in Vienna, argued that the move was “a serious violation” of the country’s rights as an IAEA member. The agency is tasked with monitoring nuclear activities and compliance with nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

Russia’s envoy to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, accused the West of waging a campaign of “visa lawlessness” and argued that Austria had “grossly violated its obligations under the agreement with the IAEA on hosting the agency’s headquarters in Vienna.”

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright defended the restrictions placed on Eslami.

“He’s a sanctioned individual and we don’t want sanctioned individuals evading their sanctions. He asked for a waiver of the sanctions and it was denied,” Wright told reporters in Vienna, according to AFP.

The incident occurred as talks between the US and Iran remain stalled, with the Strait of Hormuz, an important maritime chokepoint, blocked to normal shipping. A 60-day deadline for reviving negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program expired last month.

The US insists that Iran must completely dismantle its nuclear program, with President Donald Trump saying that Tehran must never acquire nuclear weapons. Iran, which maintains that it enriches uranium only for civilian purposes, has said that its nuclear program is a sovereign right.

IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Monday that the agency was committed to resuming work with Iran. “We extend our hand to Iran once again to work with us to clarify issues related to its nuclear program,” he said at the organization’s general conference in Austria. He added that he remained “stubbornly optimistic” that the issues surrounding Iran’s nuclear program would be resolved.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei accused the IAEA of helping to promote “threat narratives” and provide “a political and legal case” for the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began in late February.

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