Iranian lawmaker says outlook for US talks remains positive

Iran will not bow to what it calls arbitrary political pressure over its nuclear activities, the country’s nuclear chief said on Sunday, as Western powers prepare to push for a resolution against Tehran at the upcoming quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors.

Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), defended the country's uranium enrichment activities in an interview with Qatar's Al-Araby TV, asserting that nuclear development is Iran’s sovereign right and a pillar of national progress.

“We won’t jeopardize the health and lives of our people or halt our scientific advancements just to yield to unreasonable political demands,” Eslami said. “One million people in Iran benefit annually from our radiopharmaceuticals. Why should we risk that?”

Eslami’s comments come as the United States and three European powers — France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — consider introducing a resolution at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna, criticizing Iran for its lack of cooperation with the agency and alleged violations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Iranian official accused the IAEA of losing credibility under what he described as the unilateral influence of the United States.

“Unfortunately, the agency has become a tool for American dictates rather than an impartial institution upholding international law,” Eslami said. “Countries cannot selectively dictate what others can or cannot do while expanding their own nuclear infrastructure.”

He emphasized that Iran is a committed signatory to the NPT and operates its nuclear program under the framework of its safeguards agreements. “We have no undeclared activities,” he added.

Responding to calls from Washington to halt uranium enrichment, Eslami dismissed such demands as both scientifically flawed and politically motivated.

“Enrichment is the starting point of any nuclear industry,” he said. “Without fuel, you cannot operate research reactors, produce electricity, or provide nuclear medicine. Iran is under sanctions, with no cooperation or support — even from the IAEA except in safety matters. So we had no choice but to develop the technology independently.”

Standing in front of the Tehran Research Reactor during the interview, Eslami pointed out that the facility was originally built by the United States and used 90% enriched fuel. “When they refused to provide us with 20% fuel later on, we had to produce it ourselves,” he said. “If we hadn’t, our ability to produce radiopharmaceuticals for medical use would have collapsed.”

Eslami said that Iran’s nuclear program remains transparent and peaceful, asserting that allegations of secret activities are politically driven. “There is no document, no evidence of wrongdoing,” he said. “This is about pressure, not proliferation.”

The IAEA board meeting is expected to convene in Vienna this week.

Iranian authorities say they have provided the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with documents and information suggesting possible sabotage and document fabrication at two nuclear sites,Varamin andTurquzabad, during recent technical talks with senior agency officials.

According to Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, evidence shared during a visit by IAEA Deputy Director General Massimo Aparo in late May supports Tehran’s long-standing claim that contamination at the two locations may have resulted from deliberate tampering rather than undeclared nuclear activity.

Iran said its security agencies discovered indications of organized sabotage and may provide further documentation at an appropriate time.

The two sites—neither classified by Iran as official nuclear facilities—have been central to longstanding safeguards questions by the IAEA.

Tehran rejected the latest claims in the IAEA’s recent safeguards report, which include references to enriched uranium particles and alleged undeclared activities at Varamin between 1999 and 2003. Iranian officials described the new claims as unfounded, and based on forged documents, low-quality satellite images, and previously undisclosed allegations.

The two were detained by the Revolutionary Guard's Intelligence Organization two weeks ago on charges of misconduct and collusion, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency reported.

"The case of the accused is being pursued with great care and sensitivity, and the judiciary will handle the case in a fully professional and independent manner," the report said citing an informed source. "The violators will receive a firm response, and the final results will be officially announced after the completion of legal procedures."

Sedighi, known to critics as “the weeping sheikh,” was accused last year of illegally appropriating public land in northern Tehran.

Leaked documents indicated that he and his associates had seized a 4,200-square-meter garden originally owned by a seminary. The property, estimated to be worth $20 million, was reportedly transferred to an entity controlled by Sedighi and his family.

After initially denying the allegations and claiming that his signature on the documents had been forged, Sedighi’s defense unraveled as more evidence emerged.

Eventually, he issued a public apology addressed to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, revealing that the land had been returned to the seminary. Despite the scandal, Sedighi continued serving as the interim Friday Prayer Imam of Tehran.

In the case of Sedighi's son and daughter-in-law, "have the collusions taken place independently of their father's position as the Friday Prayer Leader appointed by the Supreme Leader and head of the Promotion of Virtue Headquarters"? asked BBC Persian journalist Hossein Bastani.

"What happened to Kazem Sedighi’s own 1,000-billion-toman land grab case?" Bastani added in a post on X.

Sedighi’s case has triggered widespread backlash, particularly on Iranian social media platforms. Many Iranians have expressed frustration over what they see as a lack of accountability and transparency among high-ranking officials and clerics.

“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has prepared a list of countermeasures to be taken in the event of a possible anti-Iran resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors,” the organization’s spokesperson said in a televised interview.

“One part of our response is technical, and the other concerns the nature of our cooperation with the Agency. Certainly, the UN nuclear watchdog should not expect Iran’s broad and sincere cooperation to continue after such a move," Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

He warned that a resolution by the Board of Governors could prompt Tehran to activate a new scenario in its nuclear program and escalate its nuclear activities again.

The spokesman recalled that past warnings were ignored, leading Tehran to increase its 60 percent uranium production sevenfold, launch 20 cascades of centrifuges, and install new generations of centrifuges.

While acknowledging that the mere adoption of a resolution does not automatically trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism under the nuclear deal, he stressed that Security Council decisions are ultimately political, not legal.

Kamalvandi said the challenges facing the country’s nuclear program are not technical but political in nature. “These challenges, which have intensified in recent years, stem from political pressure aimed at forcing Iran to abandon its achievements."

He dismissed the notion that Iran had ceased cooperation with the IAEA, noting that about 120 inspectors are still accredited for work in Iran, with 70 of them actively operating out of a special Iran office created by the agency.

“No other country has such an office under the direct supervision of the IAEA director general,” he said, adding that 22 percent of the agency’s inspections over the past year were conducted in Iran.

He also responded to renewed IAEA concerns about past nuclear activities at sites like Marivan and Lavizan (also known as Shiyan), where the agency suspects that natural uranium in metal disc form may have been used to produce neutron sources with explosive triggers. He said that these cases had already been investigated and closed back in 2014.

“The IAEA cannot prove diversion of nuclear material toward military use because Iran does not possess enriched uranium at weapons-grade levels,” he said. “So instead, it tries to build a narrative that there was once a military dimension to our program.”

Iran and the United States are facing a deepening deadlock in nuclear negotiations, increasing the risk of military conflict, senior analyst Morad Vaisi wrote Sunday in a piece for Iran International.

Vaisi outlined ten key developments that have “darkened the prospects of reaching an agreement and made war more realistic.” He pointed to intensified rhetoric between leaders, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling Iran’s enrichment program “none of their business,” and Donald Trump responding that Iran would “never be allowed to enrich uranium.”

Vaisi wrote that no new rounds have taken place since the fifth session in Rome, describing the halt as “a clear indication of a sharp decline in the trajectory of the talks.”

Although the US briefly paused the imposition of new sanctions through a directive, it quickly reimposed them after Khamenei’s remarks, targeting financial networks tied to Iran.

Trump’s appointment of Admiral Brad Cooper as CENTCOM commander also signaled heightened readiness, Vaisi wrote, citing his experience within the region.

Vaisi added that growing European pressure on Israel over the Gaza conflict may push the Jewish state to shift the focus by escalating tensions with Iran, especially as Israeli officials warn that future opportunities to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities may be limited.

“The last hope to avoid a military confrontation,” he wrote, “may rest on a possible visit by Vladimir Putin to Tehran.”