TEHRAN, December 15. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has no right to demand inspections at Iran’s damaged nuclear facilities without condemning Israel’s June attacks on the Islamic Republic first, said vice president and head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami.
"Inspections have been carried out at facilities that have not been attacked, but what really matters is the question of the sites that did come under attack. The agency, which failed to condemn [the attacks] and has no instructions [regarding the inspection of damaged sites] has no grounds to declare its intentions to inspect," the IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
In Eslami’s opinion, the IAEA should first of all present its instructions and protocols - if there are any - regarding the inspection of facilities that had sustained a military attack.
"Now it’s not the time for the Agency to ask questions, now it’s the time for it to answer them," the Iranian official added.
On September 9, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed an agreement in Egypt to resume cooperation that had been suspended following the June attacks by Israel and the United States. Tehran sharply criticized the agency for failing to condemn the states that had struck its nuclear facilities. Following the signing of the document, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that if any hostile actions against the republic resumed, all contacts with the IAEA would again be suspended. On November 20, in response to the IAEA’s decision to pass another anti-Iranian resolution, Tehran notified the UN nuclear watchdog that it was terminating the cooperation agreement previously signed between Tehran and the agency in Cairo.
Overnight into June 13, Israel launched a military operation against Iran. Less than 24 hours later, Iran retaliated. Nine days after, the US entered the conflict, striking Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. On June 23, Iran attacked Al-Udeid, the largest US air base in the Middle East, located in Qatar. US President Donald Trump later announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire, which came into effect on June 24.