Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that the agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was “killed by the US and the E3 (UK, France, and Germany).”
“Like the diplomacy which was assaulted by Israel and the US in June, the Cairo Agreement has been killed by the US and the E3,” Araghchi wrote in an X post. The agreement allowed for the IAEA to enter Iran and inspect their nuclear program.
According to the Iranian minister, the reasons behind this move stemmed from the US and the E3's decision to “gang up to censure Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors (BoG).”
Araghchi wrote it was “Clear for all to see: Iran is not the party that seeks to manufacture another crisis. Nor is our goodwill appreciated.”
"Given that the E3 and the US seek escalation, they know full well that the official termination of the Cairo Agreement is the direct outcome of their provocations.”
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that the Iranian Foreign Ministry saw the resolution by the IAEA as “illegal,” arguing that it “violates the fundamental bases of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”
IAEA resolution on Iran
The resolution passed by the IAEA BoG established a mandate to report on aspects of Iran's nuclear program, but it also stated that Iran must quickly provide the IAEA with the answers and access it seeks.
Iran, before the US and Europe's top three powers, submitted this resolution, which, if passed, would "adversely affect" Tehran's cooperation with the agency.
"Our message is clear: Iran must resolve its safeguards issues without delay. It must provide practical cooperation through access, answers, and restoration of monitoring, to enable the agency to do its job and help rebuild confidence," the US, Britain, France, and Germany said in a statement to the board.
The resolution passed with 19 votes in favor, three against, and 12 abstentions, diplomats at the meeting in Vienna said. Russia, China, and Niger opposed it.
"Iran must ... provide the agency without delay with precise information on nuclear material accountancy and safeguarded nuclear facilities in Iran, and grant the agency all access it requires to verify this information," the draft resolution text submitted to the board and seen by Reuters said.
Iran still has not let inspectors into the nuclear sites Israel and the United States bombed in June. The IAEA says that accounting for Iran's enriched uranium stock, which includes material close to bomb-grade, is "long overdue" and the issue needs to be addressed "urgently."
Reuters contributed to this report.