TEHRAN: Iranian lawmakers voted on Wednesday (Jun 25) in favour of suspending cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, state TV said, after a 12-day war that saw Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 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 said, according to state TV.
The decision still requires the approval of the Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.
Should it be ratified, Ghalibaf said “the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the IAEA until the security of the nuclear facilities is guaranteed”.
In parliament, 221 lawmakers voted in favour and one abstained, with no votes against from those present in the 290-seat legislature, according to state TV.
Lawmaker Alireza Salimi said the suspension of cooperation would mean that IAEA inspectors would be barred from accessing nuclear facilities unless they obtained the approval of Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, according to ISNA news agency.
