Gharibabadi: Iran's response to the West's irrational action will be very serious and decisive

Speaking to the Iranian Radio and Television Agency, Gharibabadi said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has commitments within the framework of the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.” He continued, “We have implemented our commitments well.”

He added, “The International Atomic Energy Agency is not a technical and legal agency, and despite the fact that it should be a technical and legal organization, political approaches have dominated this organization.”

The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister explained this by giving examples: The Zionist regime is not a member of any of the disarmament treaties, it has weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, it has threatened its neighbors, it has violated its neighbors, it has committed some acts of sabotage in our nuclear facilities, our nuclear scientists were assassinated by agents of the Zionist regime, and our peaceful nuclear facilities have been threatened with attack. Where is the International Atomic Energy Agency? Mr. Grossi, not even his predecessors, ever had the courage to condemn these threats and attacks or demand an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors or even submit a report. But when it comes to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country that is committed to its commitments, in order to prepare a file under pressure from certain countries in the Board of Governors to apply political pressure on Iran, of course, because they do not find any problems or issues in Iran’s current activities, they go back to the past, two or three decades ago, and prepare documents and make claims and accusations to actually coordinate the file to apply pressure on Iran. The senior Iranian diplomat said: The second thing is that there is really no ambiguity in our nuclear activities at all. The same report issued by the Director General of the Agency refers to two claims; and that in a time frame of 25 years ago, not actually five years ago or 10 years ago. In the same International Atomic Energy Agency, we witnessed two files regarding two countries being referred to the Board of Governors of the Agency. These two countries had secret enrichment activities. Now, these two claims that the Agency has reported about Iran, which of course are not new reports; the Agency has been reporting about these places for five or six years and they are not about enrichment at all, but about the presence or small amount of natural uranium, not enriched.

He continued: The Agency did not take any action regarding those two countries and the files were closed in the Board of Governors, while their files should have been sent to the UN Security Council due to their failure to declare an important part of their nuclear activities, which is enrichment, but when it comes to Iran, political approaches should prevail.

We have given serious warnings to the Agency and the West

Emphasizing that "we have given serious warnings to the Agency; especially to the countries that are actually the initiators of political actions against Iran," Gharibabadi said: We cannot say that the Agency is merely playing a technical role and that political actions are the result of the actions of the countries; Naturally, the Agency’s reports and the positions of the Agency’s Director General provide the necessary fodder for some abusive countries that dominate the political atmosphere in the Agency’s Board of Governors.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister warned the Western parties and said: It is natural that if they take a specific action in the Board of Governors next week, Iran will definitely make the necessary decisions in the field of its nuclear activities and the Agency’s access.

Gharibabadi reminded: Of course, it was not that we were silent during all this time that the Agency and some countries took measures against Iran; not every time they issued a resolution or took a political action, Iran reduced some of its cooperation with the Agency and reviewed some of its nuclear activities or, for example, increased the speed or volume of some activities.

He also said: This is a natural issue and it is the right of the country that if they have a political confrontation with us, naturally they should not expect us to continue to play this role like a calm person who plays a good role, we will always play this role; we will adjust our behavior and policy in accordance with their behavior.

China and Russia's opposition to the West's actions is principled

In response to a question about the possibility of referring the Iranian case to the United Nations Security Council, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran also said: I do not foresee that these countries will want to take such a serious destructive action and refer this insignificant issue to the Security Council, meaning that it would be ridiculous for the Board of Governors and the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer such alleged issues that are related to 25 years ago to the Security Council in the form of a case.

However, he said: "Of course, any action by these European countries and the United States will be considered and we will not reject it. They have taken many irrational actions, but I do not predict much about this specific issue and the situation we are in because they know and we told them that if they take such an action, the reaction will naturally be much more serious and decisive, and in fact, these countries are the ones who must accept the cost and responsibility for the actions that Iran will take in response to them."

Gharibabadi continued: "Supposing they want to report the issue to the Security Council in an irrational and unwise action, the Security Council will not be able to make a decision in this regard."

Stating that "China and Russia have principled positions," he said: "In November of last year, three European countries, with the support of the United States, approved a resolution in the Board of Governors. Of course, that resolution was a non-consensus resolution, and a significant number of countries abstained and voted against it. China and Russia voted against it, and if we assume that they also go to the resolution next week, China and Russia will definitely oppose it; this opposition is a principled opposition, because they are also critical of this political process in the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Board of Governors."