France, Germany and Britain on Monday condemned "threats" against the head of the UN nuclear watchdog after Iran rejected its request to visit nuclear facilities bombed by Israel and the United States.
Tehran has accused Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, of "betrayal of his duties" for not condemning the Israeli and US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, and Iranian lawmakers this week voted to suspend cooperation with the agency.
"France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the director general of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the agency," foreign ministers Jean-Noël Barrot, Johann Wadephul and David Lammy said in a joint statement.
"We call on Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA," they added.
"We urge Iran to immediately resume full cooperation in line with its legally binding obligations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of IAEA personnel."
Excuse
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that Grossi's insistence on visiting the bombed sites was "meaningless and possibly even malign in intent".
Iran has said it believes an IAEA resolution on 12 June that accused Iran of ignoring its nuclear obligations served as an "excuse" for the war that Israel launched on 13 June and that ended with a fragile ceasefire last week.
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Argentina, Rafael Grossi's home country, has also slammed "threats" against him from Iran.
None specified which threats they were referring to, but Iran's ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper recently claimed documents showed Grossi was an Israeli spy and should be executed.
Speaking to US broadcaster CBS on Sunday, Iranian ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani denied there was any threat to nuclear inspectors in Iran, insisting they were "in safe conditions" but their work was suspended.
Downplayed damage
Questions remain as to how much damage the US strikes did to Iran's nuclear programme, with President Donald Trump and his officials insisting it had been "obliterated".
On Sunday, however, The Washington Post reported that the United States had intercepted calls between Iranian officials who said the damage was less than expected.
That followed an early "low confidence" US military intelligence report that said the nuclear programme had been set back months, not years.
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Israel has said Iran's programme was delayed by years, while Tehran has downplayed the damage.
The IAEA said Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent, far above the levels needed for civilian nuclear power, although Grossi previously noted there had been no indication before the strikes that Iran was working to build an atomic weapon.
On Saturday, Grossi told CBS Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium "in a matter of months," despite damage.
Israel has maintained ambiguity about its own nuclear arsenal, neither officially confirming nor denying it exists, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) has estimated it has 90 nuclear warheads.
(with AFP)
