TEHRAN: Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to suspend cooperation with the United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog, accusing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of siding with the West after failing to condemn US and Israeli strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n
The vote, which passed with 221 in favor and one abstention, now awaits approval from the Guardian Council \u2014 a powerful constitutional body that must vet all legislation. If ratified, it will mark a sharp escalation in Tehran\u2019s nuclear standoff with the West following a devastating 12-day war.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IAEA, by refusing to condemn even marginally the attacks on our nuclear sites, has auctioned off its international credibility,\u201d said parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, addressing legislators in a special session broadcast live on state TV.<\/p>\n
Under the draft law, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran would halt all cooperation with the IAEA unless the safety of its nuclear infrastructure is assured. Inspections by IAEA officials would be blocked unless explicitly cleared by the Supreme National Security Council \u2014 Iran\u2019s highest security body.<\/p>\n
Lawmaker Alireza Salimi stated that the move would give Iran \u201csovereign control\u201d over site access. \u201cThe agency will no longer enjoy free access. Security comes first,\u201d he said, echoing growing national anger.<\/p>\n
The diplomatic fallout follows Israel\u2019s large-scale aerial bombardment of Iranian nuclear assets on June 13, which was followed by US B-2 stealth bomber strikes on June 22. The twin assaults targeted facilities at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz, severely damaging Iran\u2019s enrichment capacity and reportedly killing several senior military and scientific figures.<\/p>\n
The IAEA passed a resolution on June 12 \u2014 just a day before the Israeli strikes \u2014 accusing Iran of failing to comply with its nuclear obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iranian officials have since condemned the resolution as biased and provocative, accusing the agency of providing political cover for subsequent military attacks.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Wednesday that Iran\u2019s cooperation with the agency \u201cwill definitely be affected\u201d by what he termed the IAEA\u2019s \u201csilence in the face of aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis resolution was one of the main excuses used to justify these attacks,\u201d he said in comments to IRNA, Iran\u2019s official news agency.<\/p>\n
Following the parliamentary vote, lawmakers erupted into chants of \u201cDeath to America\u201d and \u201cDeath to Israel,\u201d signaling a hardening of positions in Tehran and setting the stage for an increasingly volatile regional atmosphere.<\/p>\n
The move threatens to further isolate Iran diplomatically, especially as world powers call for calm in the aftermath of a precarious ceasefire announced Tuesday. The US and Israel maintain the strikes were necessary to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability \u2014 a charge Tehran vehemently denies.<\/p>\n
Analysts warn that cutting off IAEA oversight could backfire by eroding international support for Iran\u2019s right to peaceful nuclear energy and provide additional justification for future preemptive military action by its adversaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN: Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to suspend cooperation with the United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog, accusing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of siding with the West after failing to condemn US and Israeli strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities. The vote, which passed with 221 in favor and one abstention, now awaits approval from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[160,383,2053,313,2052,2051],"class_list":["post-4210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-headline","tag-israel","tag-oversight","tag-us","tag-vote","tag-watchdog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4212,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4210\/revisions\/4212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}