Iranian officials have hit back at the head of the global nuclear watchdog, after he said there was no evidence that Iran was building a nuclear weapon.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this week that the watchdog “did not have any proof of a systematic effort to move into a nuclear weapon” by Iran.
His comments follow an IAEA report this month that found Iran to be in breach of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Esmaeil Baqaei, foreign ministry spokesperson, posted on X on Thursday that Grossi’s most recent comments were “too late” and said Grossi had “obscured this truth in your absolutely biased report”.
He added:
Misleading narratives have dire consequences, Mr Grossi, and demand accountability . . . You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You’ve made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression.
Javad Zarif, Iran’s former foreign minister, posted that Grossi had “caused irreparable damage to the agency” and “must be held accountable for his complicity in the death of innocents in Iran caused by Israeli aggression using his report as a pretext”.