Iran’s parliament backs bill to suspend cooperation with IAEA until security of nuclear sites guaranteed

Iran’s parliament has approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran’s Nournews reports.

The country’s Supreme National Security Council would still need to give final approval to the move, the report says.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency, which refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, put its international credibility up for auction,” Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says, according to state TV, announcing that “the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the IAEA until the security of the nuclear facilities is guaranteed.”

It was reported yesterday that a preliminary US intelligence assessment has determined that US strikes over the weekend on Iranian nuclear facilities have set back Tehran’s program by only a matter of months.

Iran, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel says it has recently taken steps toward weaponization.