Atomic Energy Organization head Mohammad Eslami on Thursday accused the US, three European countries, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi of politically targeting Iran under Israeli influence.
“What we are witnessing is a series of political actions by the three European countries, directed by the United States, and aided by the IAEA Director General, serving the agenda of the Zionist regime to pressure us for concessions,” Eslami said.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf condemned the IAEA Board of Governors’ resolution against Iran, calling it a “biased move that proves cooperation with the agency yields the opposite result.”
Ghalibaf warned that the Islamic Republic would respond decisively.
“In response to this excessive demand, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take reciprocal and forceful measures,” he wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
“Enrichment with advanced centrifuges, launching a new facility, and reducing oversight are a legitimate response to the breach of the engagement path,” Ghalibaf added.
The evacuation of some US embassy personnel from Iraq and other areas in the Middle East was a “regulatory precautionary measure” taken by Washington and not based on any credible security threat within Iraq, Iraq’s military spokesperson said Thursday.
“Intelligence and field reports do not indicate actual threats that would affect the work of diplomatic missions,” the spokesman said, according to Iraq’s state news agency.
"[The decision] has nothing to do with the presence of any field security indicators within Iraqi territory.”
Iran’s top military commander has issued an early order to initiate the country’s annual military exercises, state media reported Thursday, as tensions rise over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The directive, signed by Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, shifts the usual defense calendar to focus more closely on monitoring “enemy movements.”
“The purpose of these exercises is to strengthen the defensive power and assess the readiness of the armed forces,” Bagheri said.
