Iran says it may halt cooperation with IAEA if US continues to threaten use of force
Khamenei’s adviser warns ‘continued external threats’ may lead to expulsion of UN inspectors, transfer of enriched material to secret sites, as Trump again threatens military strike if talks fail
Iran may suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if external threats continue, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said on Thursday, after US President Donald Trump again warned of military force if Tehran does not agree to a nuclear deal.
Iranian and American diplomats will visit Oman on Saturday to start dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program, with Trump saying he would have the final word on whether talks are reaching a breakdown, which would put Iran in “great danger.”
“Continued external threats and putting Iran under the conditions of a military attack could lead to deterrent measures like the expulsion of IAEA inspectors and ceasing cooperation with it,” Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, posted on X, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Transferring enriched material to safe and undisclosed locations in Iran could also be on the agenda,” he wrote.
While the US insists that the talks with Tehran will be direct, Iran has stressed the negotiations will be indirect with intermediation from Oman’s foreign minister.
During his first 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran’s sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.
Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment, according to the IAEA.
Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons capability by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say is justifiable for a civilian atomic energy program.
While Trump has said the talks in Oman is the “start” of the process of putting Iran in a position to “thrive,” he has repeatedly threatened use of force if negotiations fail, saying the US would “absolutely” use military force against Iran if necessary, and said Wednesday that Israel would take the leading role in a potential strike on Iran if talks failed.
“Israel will obviously be very much involved in that — it’ll be the leader of that,” he said, in what appeared to be the first time he’s explicitly threatened an Iranian strike by Israel, let alone one led by the Jewish state.
Efforts to settle a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program have ebbed and flowed for more than 20 years without resolution.
Trump tore up a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers — the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — during his first term of office in 2018, and also imposed stiff sanctions. Iran responded by dropping some of its commitments to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Iran, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but it has ramped up its enrichment of uranium to 60 percent purity, which has no application beyond nuclear weapons, and has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities.
The Times of Israel Community.