Iran's Rouhani Says UN Watchdog Risks Losing Independence

Iran's president warned Wednesday that the UN nuclear watchdog risks losing its independence after it adopted a resolution urging access to two sites alleged to have hosted past nuclear activities.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency passed the resolution put forward by European states last week, calling on Iran to help clarify whether undeclared nuclear activities took place at the sites in the early 2000s.

But the Islamic republic says the IAEA's requests for access were based on allegations from its arch-enemy Israel and had no legal basis.

"The Zionist regime and the Americans are pressuring the agency to investigate something related to 20, 18 years ago. They are deceiving the agency, misleading it," President Hassan Rouhani said during a televised cabinet meeting.

"Our expectation is that... the agency should be able to keep its independence," he added, warning that Israel and the United States were tarnishing its reputation.

Rouhani also slammed the three European parties to the Iran nuclear deal—Britain, France and Germany—for putting forward the resolution and "sullying themselves for no reason" by cooperating with Israel and the US.

"We did not expect this from the Europeans," he said, while praising China and Russia—also parties to the nuclear deal—for standing against the resolution.

Iran agreed with the five countries plus the US in 2015 to limit its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions, but the deal has been on life support ever since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it and unilaterally reimposed sanctions in 2018.

Tehran has criticized the Europeans for failing to provide it with the economic benefits set out in the accord and has rolled back some of its commitments in retaliation for the US pullout.

Rouhani said Iran would continue to work with the IAEA regarding "legal inspections.”

Photo: IRNA

Call for Mandatory Masks as Iran Virus Toll Nears 10,000

An Iranian official called for mask-wearing to be made compulsory as the country on Wednesday reported its highest daily coronavirus death toll in more than two-and-a-half months.

"It is certainly required that the wearing of masks becomes mandatory," said Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi.

"If we use masks, especially in closed spaces and gatherings, we can very much reduce the virus' spread," he added in remarks broadcast on television.

Iran reported its first COVID-19 cases on February 19, and it has since struggled to contain the outbreak at the death toll nears 10,000.

It has refrained from imposing a mandatory lockdown on people to stop the virus' spread, and the use of masks and protective equipment is optional in most areas.

The Islamic republic closed schools, cancelled public events and banned movement between its 31 provinces in March, but the government gradually lifted restrictions from April to try to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

Official figures have shown a rising trajectory in new confirmed cases since early May, when Iran had hit a near-two month low in daily recorded infections.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Wednesday that the 133 fatalities in the past 24 hours brought the country's overall virus death toll to 9,996.

That made it the deadliest day in Iran since April 6, when the government reported 136 virus fatalities.

It was also the sixth consecutive day that Iran has reported more than 100 virus deaths.

Lari added that Iran's virus infection caseload had jumped by 2,531 to a total of 212,501 in the past day.

Photo: IRNA

Trump Administration Unveils Security Council Resolution Extending Iran Arms Embargo

By Colum Lynch and Robbie Gramer

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump introduced a long-awaited U.N. Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution extending an arms embargo on Iran that is due to expire in October, setting the stage for a great-power clash and likely veto in the U.N.’s principal security body, according to a copy of the draft obtained by Foreign Policy.

The U.S. draft resolution would oblige nations, including the United States, to take active measures to prevent Iran from supplying, selling, or transferring arms to other countries, unless the Security Council committee overseeing U.N. sanctions approves such transfers. The measure would also require all U.N. member states to inspect cargo transiting through their territory to check for illicit arms imports or exports from Iran, and grant them authority to seize and destroy such weapons.

It would also impose an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals responsible for violating the arms embargo, and authorize states to “seize, inspect, freeze (impound), confiscate, and dispose of any vessel in their ports.” In an effort to ratchet up pressure on Iran, the resolution would request that U.N. Secretary General António Guterres report any attacks by armed groups that threaten regional stability or interference in the freedom of navigation in the region. The resolution would also establish a special council committee to monitor compliance with the sanctions and appoint a panel of eight experts to investigate and compile information on potential violations of the embargo.

If passed, the resolution would fall under Chapter VII of the U.N. charter, making it legally binding and enforceable. But the U.S. measure, according to several U.N. Security Council diplomats, stands little chance of being adopted by the 15-nation council. One council diplomat said that the U.S. initiative might not even receive the minimum threshold of nine votes it needs in the council that would force a veto from one of the permanent Security Council members. “This is not something that they are trying to get through the council,” said the diplomat.

Some council diplomats and other nonproliferation experts see the U.S. move as a way to score political points at home, not to do anything about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.

“The skeptic in me says that the objective of this exercise is to go through the arms embargo resolution, and when it fails, to use that as an excuse to get a snapback of the embargo, and if and when that fails too, to use as a political talking point in the election campaign,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, a former State Department nonproliferation official now at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Since China and Russia are almost certain to ignore any U.N. arms embargo forced by U.S. maneuvers, the practical impact on Iran’s ability to cause mischief will be minimal, he said.

“It’s not actually about stopping any arms from China and Russia, it’s about winning a political argument,” he said.

The draft also condemns a string of alleged armed attacks by Iran against the United States, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, including the September 2019 drone and missile attack against two Saudi oil installations and a Dec. 27 strike allegedly by an Iranian-backed militia against an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk province, Iraq, which resulted in the death of a U.S. citizen and injured several U.S. and Iraqi personnel.

The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) envisioned the expiration of a sweeping U.N. arms embargo on Iran after five years if Tehran complied with its obligation to scale back its nuclear activities and subject its program to expanded international monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran had largely complied with its obligations until Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in May 2018 and reintroduced a series of U.S. sanctions against the country. 

Since then, Tehran has violated key tenets of the JCPOA, including enriching uranium to purity levels higher than what is allowed in the deal and increasing the stockpiles of enriched uranium, according to assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

China and Russia, which wield veto power over Security Council decisions, have signaled their unwillingness to approve the resolution. Other signatories of the Iran deal—Britain, France, and Germany—have all supported retaining arms embargoes on Iran, but they also came out against the Trump administration’s threat to reimpose sanctions, highlighting the sharp disagreements between Washington and its closest European allies over Iran. 

“We firmly believe that any unilateral attempt to trigger UN sanctions snapback would have serious adverse consequences in the UNSC,” the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany said in a statement on June 19. “We would not support such a decision which would be incompatible with our current efforts to preserve the JCPoA.”

The foreign ministers also cautioned that lifting the U.N. conventional arms embargo “would have major implications for regional security and stability” but stressed that even without a U.N. arms embargo, the European Union has its own ban on sending conventional weapons and missile technology to Iran through 2023. Senior U.S. officials have said that Russia and China would be poised to sell conventional arms to Iran if the U.N. embargo expires.

A State Department spokesperson told Foreign Policy that “failing to extend the arms embargo will risk even greater violence in the Middle East.”

The spokesperson added that the U.S. is “hopeful” that the draft resolution will be supported by the Security Council, stating that China and Russia have upheld similar restrictions in the past. “Given that Iran’s activity continues to pose a threat to international peace and security, we do not see any reason why [the] Security Council consensus on this issue should have changed,” the spokesperson said.

The Trump administration’s push to reimpose sanctions opened a unique legal debate over the United States’ current standing with the JCPOA. The Trump administration has argued that it is still legally a party to the deal the president disavowed, allowing it to trigger the snapback of sanctions. This argument has angered top diplomats from other countries that were signatories to the deal, who said the United States couldn’t have it both ways.

Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s top Iran envoy, said in an interview with Foreign Policy last month that the president remains open to “sitting down” with Tehran for talks on a new deal. He said that the United States would still maintain its expanding sanctions regime on Iran in the meantime. 

“We’re in no hurry. We have a good policy in place. The regime needs to decide when it wants to come to the table,” he said.

Photo: State Department

US Wants Security Council to Extend Iran Arms Embargo

The US has proposed a UN Security Council resolution condemning a devastating 2019 attack on Saudi oil facilities it blames on Iran and proposing an extension of an arms embargo against the Islamic Republic, sources said.

The embargo, put in place as part of a nuclear accord signed with Tehran in 2015, is set to expire in October, but Washington has been working to extend the ban as tensions with its arch-rival remain high.

On Friday, France, the UK and Germany—all signatories to the deal—issued a joint statement arguing against lifting the ban as scheduled, saying it could have "major implications for regional security and stability."

The US resolution—a draft of which was obtained by AFP—"condemns the attacks of September 2019 against Saudi Arabia carried out by Iran.”

It also calls for the body to "prohibit the supply, sale or transfer, direct or indirect... of weapons and related materials," excluding those that are approved with 30 days' notice.

No date has been scheduled for a vote on the resolution and it is unlikely to pass, as veto-wielding China and Russia have already spoken out against extending the embargo.

The 2019 attacks on Saudi state oil giant Aramco's facilities caused extensive damage and briefly interrupted production of half of the country's oil output.

Parts of the cruise missiles and drones used in the attacks were either made in Iran or exported there, according to a UN report based on an examination of the debris released earlier this month.

Observers say the US attempt to extend the embargo is part of efforts to re-impose UN sanctions on Iran, lifted in 2015 when the agreement was signed.

France, the UK and Germany have already rejected any "unilateral attempt" to re-impose UN sanctions on Iran.

Iran agreed with major world powers in 2015 to freeze its nuclear program in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

But in 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to roll back its own commitments.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iranian Rial Hits New Low Against Dollar

By Amir Havasi

The Iranian rial plunged to a new low against the US dollar on Monday in what economists said was a slump partly induced by the Middle East's deadliest coronavirus outbreak.

At Tehran's foreign exchange hub on Ferdowsi Street, the currency was being traded at around 192,800 to the dollar at midday, according to AFP journalists.

The rial has hit rock bottom in the past month, collapsing even below the 190,000 rate it fell to in the wake of the US decision in 2018 to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions.

Reza looked dispirited as he went from exchange to exchange hunting down better rates for dollars needed to pay for a family member's overseas university fees.

The value of the rial against the dollar is "beyond awful now", said the 35-year-old, who has a job in Tehran's Grand Bazaar.

"We're seeing a different rate every day," he told AFP.

The street was busier around government-owned exchanges, as people formed long queues to take advantage of a central bank scheme offering discount rates.

One of those standing in line was a 30-year-old physiotherapist planning to emigrate to Australia.

"The more I work, the less dollars I can buy," she said, only giving her name as Niki.

"This has affected my welfare, made me more stressed. It's a bad situation," she said as she eyed a digital board displaying the latest rates in red.

Iran's already fragile and sanction-hit economy started deteriorating after it reported its first coronavirus cases on February 19, and it has since struggled to contain the outbreak.

US sanctions reimposed in 2018 mainly targeted Iran's oil sales lifeline, prompting the Islamic republic to focus on its manufacturing sector with exports mostly aimed at its neighbors.

Iran earned just $8.9 billion from the sale of oil and related products in the year to March, down from a peak of $119 billion less than a decade ago, according to Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, the head of planning and budget organization.

Coupled with the lower revenues, the coronavirus pandemic led to a temporary shutdown of the economy, border closures and a halt in non-oil shipments.

"The main cause of the current crisis is the coronavirus," said economist Saeed Laylaz, who has acted as an adviser to Iranian presidents.

"Our non-oil exports have virtually stopped, particularly to neighboring countries" due to the COVID-19 outbreak, he noted in a phone interview.

Iran's health ministry on Monday announced 119 new coronavirus deaths and another 2,573 cases of infection.

That takes the overall toll to over 9,742 dead out of more than 207,500 cases in the outbreak, with official figures showing an upward trajectory in new cases of infection since early May.

Iran's government closed non-essential businesses in March in a bid to stem the spread of the virus, but it refrained from imposing a mandatory lockdown on the population.

Restrictions have been eased gradually since April with officials arguing the economy cannot remain shut down.

But the rial's sharp decline was "not unpredictable", said Laylaz, given the considerable growth of liquidity which leads to rising inflation.

The economist said the forex market turmoil had led to "increasing social and political pressure on the government".

According to Yaser Shariat, a market analyst heading a stock brokerage, the rial's troubles may "continue until the epidemic is brought under control" and borders are reopened.

Most of Iran's border crossings with its neighbors remain closed, save for few at Iraq's Kurdistan region, according to Iranian authorities.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Will Send Ukraine Airline Black Boxes to France

Iran said on Monday that it will send the black boxes of a shot-down Ukrainian plane to France in the "next few days" and expressed readiness to resolve remaining issues.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in a phone call with his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne, his ministry said in a statement.

"The decision to send the black boxes has been made for some time and it will soon be acted upon," Zarif was quoted as saying.

The ministry said the process had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen most international flights cancelled.

Iran says its novel coronavirus outbreak has killed 9,742 people out of more than 207,500 infected since reporting its first cases in February.

According to the statement, Iran had told Ukraine that it was ready to "resolve legal issues and discuss how to compensate the families" of victims, but was yet to receive a delegation from the other party.

Flight 752, an Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on January 8.

Iran admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kiev-bound jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.

Tehran's air defenses had been on high alert at the time in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq.

Those strikes were carried out in response to the killing of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport.

The black boxes are expected to contain information about the last moments before the aircraft was struck and crashed. 

Many of those on board the downed airliner were Canadians.

Photo: IRNA

Afghan Foreign Minister Visits Iran Amid Tensions Over Migrant Deaths

Afghanistan's interim foreign minister met with his Iranian counterpart on Sunday in Tehran as tensions persist between the two neighbors after the deaths in May of Afghan migrants at the border.

Iran's state news agency IRNA published a photo Sunday of the meeting between Afghanistan's Mohammad Hanif Atmar and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, both wearing face masks.

The two-day visit aims to discuss "recent unfortunate events (and) find solutions to avoid them happening again", Afghanistan's foreign ministry said Saturday on Twitter, without elaborating.

Atmar heads "a high-level delegation including Afghan political, economic and security officials", IRNA said, citing a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry released earlier.

The visit follows controversy over the deaths in May of several Afghan migrants who were allegedly forced into a river by Iranian border guards and drowned.

Afghan officials claim the migrants died while they were illegally crossing into neighboring Iran from Herat province.

Eighteen bodies, some bearing signs of torture and beatings, were recovered from the Harirud river, while other migrants were reported missing, in an incident that sparked anger and protests in Afghanistan.

One Afghan official said 55 migrants were forced into the river.

Iranian authorities have dismissed the claims, saying the incident occurred inside Afghanistan's territory.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered an investigation into the drownings, a move welcomed by the United States, at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The meeting also comes after an incident earlier this month in the central Iranian city of Yazd in which three Afghans died and several others were injured after a car chase with police, Iranian media reported.

According to one Iranian official, the driver of the vehicle "defied police instructions and failed to stop at a checkpoint".

According to UN refugee agency UNHCR, around 3.5 million Afghans, including almost a million refugees, live in Iran.

Tens of thousands returned to Afghanistan after the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak, but as restrictions have eased in hard-hit Iran, many are again seeking work there.

Photo: IRNA

Britain, France, Germany Will Not Back U.N. Iran Sanctions Snapback

The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany said Friday they opposed lifting a UN arms embargo on Iran this year, after the UN's nuclear watchdog passed a resolution critical of Tehran.

"We believe that the planned lifting of the UN conventional arms embargo established by Resolution 2231 next October would have major implications for regional security and stability," the ministers said in a joint statement.

The statement by the three key European powers on Iran will be a blow to Tehran, which had urged a lifting of the embargo despite US pressure for it to remain in place.

The ban on selling weapons—such as battle tanks, combat aircraft, warships and missiles or missile systems—to Iran had been set to be progressively eased from October.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier this month urged UN Security Council members to oppose a US "conspiracy" to extend the arms embargo.

The three powers said they plan to address the arms embargo issue "in close coordination" with UN Security Council permanent members Russia and China.

The board of governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had passed a resolution Friday urging Tehran to provide inspectors with access to two sites to clarify whether undeclared nuclear activity took place there in the early 2000s.

It was the first such resolution since 2012 and came against a background of tension over the Iranian nuclear program, with Iran's position causing increasing exasperation in Europe.

"Since 2019, Iran has taken nuclear measures contrary to its commitments" under the 2015 deal on its nuclear program with world powers, the ministers' statement said.

It added that Iran "has denied the access requested by the agency for many months" to the sites.

But the powers insisted they remained committed to the 2015 nuclear deal, which analysts believe has been greatly undermined by the withdrawal of the United States in 2018.

They said sanctions should not be reimposed and that they opposed the "maximum" pressure policy against Iran of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

"We firmly believe that any unilateral attempt to trigger UN sanctions snapback would have serious adverse consequences" in the UN Security Council.

"We remain committed... (to the nuclear deal) and, in order to preserve it, urge Iran to reverse all measures inconsistent with the agreement and return to full compliance without delay," said the statement.

Photo: Shutterstock

UN Nuclear Watchdog Passes Resolution Criticizing Iran

The board of governors at the UN's nuclear watchdog has passed a resolution critical of Iran, diplomatic sources said Friday, the first of its kind since 2012.

The resolution calls on Tehran to provide inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with access to two sites in Iran in order to clarify whether undeclared nuclear activity took place there in the early 2000s.

 Iran has been blocking access to the sites for months.

Earlier this week Iran warned that such a resolution would be "counterproductive" and that it would take "appropriate measures" in response.

Even though the sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current nuclear program, the agency says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.

Despite the row over the two sites, the IAEA says it still has the access it needs to inspect Iran's declared nuclear facilities, as the agency is mandated to do under the landmark deal between Iran and world powers reached in 2015.

However the latest row comes as that deal continues to unravel, with Iran continuing to breach the limits on nuclear activity in the accord in retaliation for the United States' withdrawal from it and reimposition of sanctions.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Reports 87 New Virus Deaths

Iran on Thursday announced 87 new deaths from the novel coronavirus as authorities moved to tighten measures to stop its spread in some of the country's worst-hit provinces.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a televised interview that the fatalities in the past 24 hours had taken the overall toll in Iran's outbreak to 9,272

She added that another 2,596 people had tested positive for COVID-19, bringing to 197,647 the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak emerged almost four months ago.

Five of Iran's 31 provinces—Bushehr, East Azerbaijan, Hormozgan, Kermanshah and Khuzestan—were currently "red", the highest level on the country's color-coded risk scale.

East Azerbaijan was set to reimpose restrictive measures, according to state news agency IRNA.

"Limitations will be reimposed due to the rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the province," deputy governor Aliar Rastgou said.

Rastgou said the situation was "dangerous" as residents were failing to observe social distancing and other measures under health protocols aimed at halting COVID-19.

Hormozgan had also shut down all non-essential businesses, parks and government organizations, and reimposed an inter-city travel ban at least until Saturday, state television said.

Khuzestan was the first province to see a reimposed lockdown over a worsening situation after the government gradually lifted protocols from April in order to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

Other provinces such as Golestan as well as Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad have also reimposed measures such as checkpoints at city entrances.

Iran reported its first virus cases on February 19, and it has since struggled to contain the outbreak. 

Official figures have shown a rising trajectory in new confirmed cases since early May, when Iran hit a near two-month low in daily recorded infections.

Iranian authorities says the recent upsurge is due to increased testing rather than a worsening outbreak.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Reports Over 100 Virus Deaths for Fourth Day

Iran on Wednesday reported more than 100 deaths from the novel coronavirus for a fourth straight day, saying that gatherings in high-risk provinces have led to a spike in infections.

"Holding gatherings such as weddings and funerals is one of the main causes of increased coronavirus infections in red provinces," the highest level on Iran's color-coded risk scale, said deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi.

"In one province, 120 people were infected at a single wedding," the ISNA news agency quoted him as saying. Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 120 new deaths in the past 24 hours took Iran's overall toll to 9,158.

This is Iran's highest single-day death toll since April 11.

Lari added that another 2,612 tested positive for COVID-19, bringing total confirmed cases to 195,051.

Iran reported its first coronavirus cases on February 19, and it has since struggled to contain the outbreak.

Official figures have shown a rising trajectory in new confirmed cases since early May, when Iran hit a near two-month low in daily recorded infections.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says Virus Death Toll Tops 9,000

Iran said on Tuesday a third straight day of more than 100 coronavirus deaths took its overall toll past 9,000, attributing the spike to increased travel by its citizens.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari warned the bleak figures could get even worse unless people stayed at home for the upcoming long weekend.

She said the increase in the daily toll was "due in large part to people's travel in recent weeks".

"We ask you to avoid unnecessary trips during the upcoming holidays so as not to see an increase in statistics in the future."

Iran has a public holiday on Wednesday, the last day of the working week, making the upcoming weekend a three-day break.

Lari said the 115 new deaths in the past 24 hours took Iran's overall toll to 9,065.

She said another 2,563 people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 192,439 since the start of Iran's outbreak.

Iran had on Sunday reported 107 deaths from the illness— the first time the tally has topped 100 since April 13.

The government reported the country's first coronavirus cases on February 19, and it has since struggled to contain the outbreak.

It shut schools, postponed major public events and barred intercity travel to stop the virus's spread in March before gradually easing restrictions from April.

Official figures have shown a rising trajectory in new confirmed cases since early May, when Iran hit a near two-month low in daily recorded infections.

Lari said 10 of Iran's 31 provinces were now classified as "red"—the highest level on the government's color-coded risk scale.

That compares with five provinces on Monday.

"We strongly recommend that you use a mask when you leave home," she told Iranians.

"Homemade masks can also be effective," she added.

There has been skepticism at home and abroad about Iran's official COVID-19 figures, with concerns the real toll could be much higher.

Iran has appealed to the public to avoid travel over the coming holiday weekend as its daily coronavirus death toll remains in triple figures

Photo IRNA

Iran Warns Against UN Nuclear Watchdog Resolution

Iran criticized on Tuesday a plan to put forward a resolution at a meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog urging the country to allow access to two disputed sites.

European states are expected to submit the resolution at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors' meeting this week.

"Introduction of this resolution aiming to call on Iran to cooperate with the Agency... is disappointing and absolutely counterproductive," said Kazem Gharib Abadi, Iran's UN ambassador in Vienna.

Diplomats say the resolution will call on Iran to provide access to two locations where past nuclear activity may have occurred -- sites to which the IAEA has been trying to gain access for months.

At the start of this week's meeting on Monday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi repeated his appeal to Iran to "cooperate immediately and fully" and grant access.

Even though the sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current nuclear program, the agency says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.

But in Tuesday's statement, Gharib Abadi warned that if the resolution was adopted, "Iran would have no choice but to take appropriate measures, the consequences of which would be upon the sponsors of such political and destructive approaches".

He did not specify what these measures would be.

Gharib Abadi argued that the IAEA's access requests were based on allegations from Iran's arch-enemy Israel.

Additional information provided by the IAEA in support of its requests "were merely some commercial satellite imageries that contained no convincing underlying reason" to provide access, he added.

'Complication and Difficulties'

The IAEA's board of governors has not passed a resolution critical of Iran since 2012.

While a new resolution would be largely symbolic in character, it could be a prelude for the dispute being referred to the UN Security Council, the only UN body that can impose sanctions.

However, there is the added complication that due to the coronavirus pandemic the IAEA board of governors' meeting is taking place in a virtual format.

Russia has been particularly active in resisting the prospect of remote voting and on Monday it was decided that a physical meeting would be convened if a vote needs to be held.

It is not clear how quickly such a meeting could be organized.

Also on Tuesday Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Moscow where his Russian opposite number Sergei Lavrov pledged to stand by Tehran, while referring to "developments taking place right now in Vienna" and "ideas our western friends are floating in New York".

"We will be very firmly opposing any attempts to use this situation in order to manipulate the Security Council and to promote an anti-Iranian agenda," Lavrov said.

Despite the row over the two sites, the IAEA says it still has the access it needs to Iran's nuclear facilities to monitor its current activities, as the agency is mandated to do under the landmark deal between Iran and world powers reached in 2015.

The deal has been unravelling since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it two years ago and went on to re-impose harsh economic sanctions on Iran.

In retaliation Iran has been slowly abandoning limits on its activities set out under the deal, including on the size and enrichment level of its uranium stockpile.

Iran has accused the European parties to the deal—France, the UK and Germany—of not doing enough to mitigate the impact of American sanctions.

In his statement, Gharib Abadi hinted that pressing ahead with the resolution could cause "complication and difficulties" for the future of the 2015 accord.

Photo: IRNA

UN Nuclear Watchdog Chief Asks Iran for Access to Disputed Sites

By Jastinder Khera

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog on Monday called on Iran to allow "prompt access" to two sites where past nuclear activity may have occurred.

"I hope we can do better," Rafael Grossi, director general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters when asked about the agency's current relationship with Iran.

Grossi was speaking at the start of a meeting of the agency's Board of Governors which is expected to discuss a report earlier this month in which the IAEA expressed "serious concern" that Iran has been blocking inspections at two sites.

"There are areas where our cooperation is ongoing and there is this issue where quite clearly we are in disagreement," he said.

Grossi repeated an appeal to Iran to "cooperate immediately and fully" with the agency.

If the Board of Governors pass a resolution critical of Iran, it would be the first of its kind since 2012.

Even though the two sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current activities, the agency says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.

The report detailed efforts by the agency's officials to get access to the locations.

Iran told the agency the report was a source of "deep regret and disappointment" and hinted the queries were based on "fabricated information" from "intelligence services".

Israel has previously claimed its intelligence services unearthed information on an alleged previous nuclear weapons program in Iran.

Grossi said that there were "no legal ambiguities" around the requests for access.

"The agency works on the basis of a very rigorous, dogged, meticulous technical and scientific analysis of information," he said, insisting: "Nothing is taken at face value."

Western states have voiced concern over Iran's denial of access to the sites concerned, with the United States being particularly vocal.

Brink of Collapse

The latest row over access comes as a landmark deal between Iran and world powers in 2015 continues to unravel.

Under the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran committed to curtailing its nuclear activities for sanctions relief and other benefits.

But the Islamic republic has slowly abandoned its commitments after US President Donald Trump's decision two years ago to renounce the deal and reimpose harsh sanctions.

Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is now almost eight times the limit fixed in the accord, according to an IAEA assessment published earlier this month.

However, the level of enrichment is still far below what would be needed for a nuclear weapon.

The IAEA says it continues to have access to all the facilities needed to monitor Iran's current nuclear activity.

The latest tension will further complicate efforts by the deal's EU signatories—the so-called E3 of France, Germany and Britain—to keep the deal from collapsing.

Trump has called for the E3 to follow his lead and leave the deal.

Last month, the US said it was ending sanctions waivers for nations that remain in the Iran nuclear accord—a move likely to have most impact on Russian firms working on Iran's nuclear program.

The American move brought condemnation from the E3 and was branded "unlawful" by Tehran.

Iran is also concerned that the US is pushing for an extension to an international arms embargo against Tehran which is set to be progressively eased from October.

Last week Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged other UN Security Council members, especially veto-wielding China and Russia, to stand against the American "conspiracy".

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Asks France to Analyze Ukraine Flight Black Boxes

Iran has asked France to decrypt the black boxes from downed Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, sources close to the investigation said Friday.

The Iranian envoy to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal said the Islamic Republic had enlisted the help of France's BEA air accident agency to download and read the data on the flight recorder, the sources said.

BEA denied to AFP that it had been asked—but added that it was "ready to look at any request" from Iran.

Iran has admitted that it mistakenly shot down the Kiev-bound jetliner on January 8, killing 176 people.

The disaster unfolded as Iran's defenses were on high alert in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq -- which were themselves in response to the US assassination of a top Iranian commander.

The black boxes are expected to contain information about the last moments before the aircraft was struck by a ground-to-air missile and crashed, shortly after taking off from the Tehran airport.

Many of the passengers were Canadians.

For months, Ottawa has been calling on Iran, which does not have the technical capabilities to extract the fight data, to hand over the black boxes to Ukraine or France for analysis.

The Iranian official news agency IRNA reaffirmed at the beginning of June that authorities were prepared to do so, but warned that the badly damaged devices may not advance the investigation.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Daily Virus Deaths Exceed 100 for First Time in 2 Months

Iran on Sunday reported over 100 new deaths in a single day from the novel coronavirus, for the first time in two months.

In televised remarks, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari announced 107 Covid-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising the overall toll to 8,837.

"It was very painful for us to announce the triple-digit figure," said Lari.

"This is an unpredictable and wild virus and may surprise us at any time," she added, urging Iranians to observe health protocols.

Iran last recorded triple-digit daily fatalities on April 13, with 111 dead.

Lari also announced 2,472 new cases confirmed in the past day, bringing the total infection caseload to 187,427, with over 148,000 recoveries

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday reproached citizens for failing to observe measures designed to rein in the virus.

It was "disturbing" to see that only "18 to 20 percent of people" observe health protocols and social distancing, down from "80 percent or more" between April 20 and May 20, he said, citing a report.

According to Lari, seven of Iran's 31 provinces are currently classified as "red"—the highest level on Iran's color-coded risk scale.

But Rouhani has said the increase in reported infections should not be taken as a sign of a worsening health situation. 

"When more tests are done, then naturally more cases are identified," he told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The high number of recent cases "does not have a negative aspect to it and people should not worry", he added.

Iran has carried out more than 1.2 million COVID-19 tests since its first cases were reported, according to Lari.

The health ministry's head epidemiologist, Mohammad-Mehdi Gouya, said last week that the primary cause of the surge in reported infections was due to testing those "with no or light symptoms.”

The gradual easing of lockdown measures has also partly contributed to higher infections, he added.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Challenges Nuclear Watchdog Report Over Cooperation

Iran insists it is ready to resolve any issues with the UN nuclear watchdog, expressing "disappointment" in a note circulated Thursday over the IAEA's latest report complaining of blocked access.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report seen by AFP last Friday that Iran has for months blocked inspections at two sites where nuclear activity may have occurred in the past.

The Vienna-based agency noted "with serious concern that, for over four months, Iran has denied access to the agency... to two locations.”

In a note to the IAEA dated June 8, Iran said it had held meetings with agency representatives in Tehran on April 29 and May 16 to discuss the access issues, followed by written correspondence and a fresh proposal to meet with IAEA representatives.

In the note circulated by Tehran's mission to the UN in Vienna on Thursday, Iran insisted it "continued its constructive engagement with the agency during the past two months, with a view to reach a common understanding... which would pave the way for the resolution of concerned issues."

Iran argues that the requests for access are based on "fabricated information", accusing the United States and Israel of trying to "exert pressure on the agency.”

Israel has claimed that its intelligence services have new information on Iran's alleged previous nuclear weapons program.

The IAEA has said previously that its access requests were based on "concrete information" that had been validated.

In its note, Iran expressed "deep regret and disappointment" at the IAEA's latest report.

The report is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the agency's board of governors starting next Monday.

In a separate report, also to be discussed during the board meeting, the IAEA warned that Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is now almost eight times the limit set in the nuclear deal the country signed with world powers in 2015.

Iran has been progressively breaking restrictions laid down in the 2015 deal in retaliation for US withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Urges Powers to Oppose US Arms Embargo Bid

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday urged UN Security Council members, especially veto-wielding China and Russia, to oppose a US "conspiracy" to extend an arms embargo on Iran.

"We will reach a point... when, based on Resolution 2231, all arms embargoes on Iran will be lifted," said Rouhani

"The Americans are already angry and upset... and are preparing a resolution and want to bring it to the Security Council," he told a televised cabinet meeting.

The ban on selling weapons to Iran is set to be progressively eased from October in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

The weapons include battle tanks, combat aircraft, warships and missiles or missile systems, according to the resolution.

But a UN embargo on materials, goods, equipment and technology that Iran could use for its ballistic missile program will remain in place until October 2023.

The European Union has said it will continue to enforce its own arms embargo against Iran after the lifting of the first UN embargo.

Resolution 2231 blessed the landmark international agreement reached in 2015 that placed limits on Iran's nuclear program.

US President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord—known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—in 2018 and began reimposing sanctions on Iran.

The United Nations Security Council includes among its 15 members five veto-wielding permanent members—Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Rouhani appealed to those other than the United States to oppose its bid to extend the arms embargo.

"We expect the four permanent members to stand against this conspiracy, for global interests, global stability," he said.

"We especially expect (this from) our two friendly countries, Russia and China."

Washington said last week it had shared a draft resolution with Russia to extend the ban, with Moscow and Beijing having already voiced opposition to he measure.

"Russia and China need to join a global consensus on Iran's conduct," said Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the UN.

“This is an absolute imperative that we exercise all our options to make certain that this UN arms embargo is extended."

Even though Trump has left the nuclear accord, his administration has argued that the US remains a participant under Resolution 2231 and can trigger UN sanctions for Iran's non-compliance with the 2015 deal.

Yet according to the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell, the US "cannot claim they are still part of the JCPOA to deal with this issue" after leaving it.

Iran, which has gradually scaled back its commitments to the accord in response to the renewed US sanctions, has dismissed the US argument as without any legal standing and warned that extending the embargo would mean the death of the nuclear accord.

Photo: IRNA

One in Five Iranians May Have Had Virus: Health Official

Nearly one in five Iranians may have been infected with the novel coronavirus since the country's outbreak started in February, a health official said Tuesday.

"According to results (of studies) about 15 million Iranians may have experienced being infected with this virus since the outbreak began," said Ehsan Mostafavi, a member of the task force set up to combat COVID-19.

This meant the virus was "much less lethal than we or the world had anticipated", the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

The figure represents 18.75 percent of the more than 80 million population of Iran, which on Tuesday announced another 74 deaths from the coronavirus.

But Mostafavi said the 15-million figure "must be viewed with caution" and that the studies it resulted from are "somehow similar to others done in the rest of the world".

Mostafavi said it was derived from serology tests to identify antibodies in patients who have recovered from the illness.

These differ from polymerise chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detect the presence of an antigen.

Iran says it has carried out more than one million PCR tests to "confirm" infections and report them so far.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 74 new coronavirus fatalities in the past 12 hours had raised the overall death toll to 8,425.

Cases of infection increased by 2,095 over the same period to total 175,927, she added.

Lari replaced Kianoush Jahanpour as the health ministry's spokesperson on Tuesday, according to a ministry statement.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki called on her to "avoid politicisation" of issues and to coordinate with him "before making any remarks on social media or to the press," it added.

Jahanpour had come under fire in April after saying China's reporting of its COVID-19 figures was a "bitter joke".

He was slammed on Twitter by the Chinese ambassador to Tehran, Chang Hua, and later retreated by praising Beijing for its support of Tehran during the pandemic.

Iran-China relations are usually warm as Beijing is one of Tehran's top trade partners, especially in oil.

Photo: IRNA

US Warns Against Dealing With Top Iran Shipper

The United States warned Monday that it would punish any country that deals with Iran's top shipping company, accusing it of contributing to Tehran's contested weapons programs.

The Treasury Department said sanctions came into effect Monday against the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, known by its acronym IRISL, as well as its Shanghai-based subsidiary E-Sail.

Under the sanctions, the United States threatens unilateral action against any government, business or person that does business with IRISL.

"We urge government authorities worldwide to investigate all IRISL and E-Sail activity in your ports and territorial seas and take appropriate action to put a halt to it," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

"The world must be vigilant and take action to prevent Iran from acquiring proliferation-sensitive items that further threaten regional stability and security," he said.

IRISL, which has interests around the globe, is the world's 15th largest shipping line in terms of cargo carried, according to the latest figures available from database Alphaliner.

US officials say that IRISL has shipped sensitive cargo for Iran's military and assisted its ballistic missile program, which Tehran insists is legal as UN Security Council resolutions ban only nuclear-related activity.

IRISL was already under US sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, but the latest move toughens the ramifications by targeting it more broadly over weapons of mass destruction.

The United States announced the sanctions in December but delayed their implementation, saying it wanted to give countries time to find other ways to conduct humanitarian trade not subject to US sanctions.

President Donald Trump imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran in 2018 when he walked out of a nuclear deal under which Tehran drastically scaled back its atomic activities in exchange for promises of economic relief.

China remains the primary trading partner of Iran, with US allies leaving the country due to the threat of US sanctions.

Photo: Wikicommons