Iran Ends Cooperation with IAEA: Tehran’s New Resort in Nuclear Drama
Iran is entering an unexpected and significant change in its relations with the international community: Tehran has officially announced the termination of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which could significantly affect the global nuclear dynamics and the security situation in the Middle East. The statement about this radical change was made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who announced on state television that the Iranian parliament had adopted a relevant legislative act, and its approval by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps made it mandatory for implementation. "The bill approved by the parliament and approved today by the Guard Corps is mandatory for us, and we are starting a new stage in our relations with the IAEA. From this moment on, our relations and cooperation will take on a new form that does not provide for standard mechanisms before," Araghchi noted. Such an ambitious statement indicates a fundamental change in Tehran's policy towards international nuclear standards and underlines the country's intention to distance itself from global inspection mechanisms. Meanwhile, the international community remains uncertain about the extent to which the current situation is dragging Iran into a nuclear race. The latest attacks by Israeli and American forces raise even more questions: were they a sufficient blow to delay Iran's nuclear program development for years, or just a few months. Against this background, the IAEA remains in the dark about the status of Iran's nuclear facilities - whether their recovery and growth have been significantly halted or only temporarily reduced. The background to this decision is tense diplomatic and military actions in the region. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful called on Tehran not to refuse cooperation with the IAEA on June 26, emphasizing the importance of maintaining diplomatic channels. Earlier, on June 25, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that, according to him, after several US strikes on Iranian territory, the country was already “significantly further away from creating a nuclear weapon”. However, later, the hosts from Washington began to talk about something else: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the launch of a criminal investigation into the possible leak of a secret report from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which allegedly covered the situation in the country’s nuclear program. In this context, on June 26, CIA Director John Radcliffe confirmed receiving reports of serious damage to Iranian nuclear facilities as a result of the US strike. Although the details remain under a thick veil of secrecy, military actions and diplomatic confrontations indicate the fragmentation and complication of the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program. Overall, recent events indicate that the Iranian nuclear crisis is gaining new momentum, and the official transition to the status of informed isolationism by the IAEA could cause a new escalation. The mission of international inspections to the country is currently under great question, and world leaders are actively looking for ways to avoid large-scale military conflictology or nuclear escalation in a region that has long been in a state of tension.