Iranian parliament deputy speaker accuses IAEA chief of lying

Iran is fully prepared to respond to any renewed Israeli aggression with a far stronger blow than before, former head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization Hossein Taeb said on Saturday.

“If the Zionist regime dares to repeat its aggression, it will receive a crushing response that will remain in the enemy’s memory for decades,” Taeb said, speaking to ISNA during the funeral for those killed in Israeli attacks.

He said Israel was compelled to request a ceasefire through a neighboring country, which he described as further proof of "its strategic failure".

“The Iranian armed forces are on full alert,” Taeb said. “Every possible scenario has been anticipated and planned for.”

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and agency inspectors have no legal right to enter Iran under current parliamentary law, Iranian lawmaker Hamid Rasaei said on Saturday.

Speaking to SNNTV, Rasaei said Iran’s parliament has passed legislation barring such visits in response to what he called the agency’s failure to condemn attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and scientists. “The regime that attacked our facilities isn’t even part of the NPT, and yet the IAEA remained silent,” he said.

Rasaei added that Iran has the right to restrict IAEA surveillance under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and confirmed that the agency’s cameras in Iran “no longer operate.”

He said Iran’s scientific progress would not stop, despite the assassination of its scientists. “This revolution is not dependent on individuals, and the Supreme Leader is never alone,” Rasaei said.

Iran’s judiciary on Friday confirmed the death of Ali Qena’atkar Mavardiani, deputy prosecutor of Tehran and head of Evin Prison’s public and revolutionary court, in an Israeli missile strike on Evin prison.

Qena’atkar was killed on Monday when projectiles hit the facility in northern Tehran, judiciary officials said. The attack resulted in multiple casualties among prison staff, judiciary employees, and civilians visiting inmates, according to official statements.

Qena’atkar headed the District 33 court, which oversees Evin prison, the judiciary said.

Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei issued a public condolence message, calling Qena’atkar a “principled and courageous legal official” who died defending public security.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, appeared in public on Saturday for the first time since being wounded in an Israeli strike earlier this month, Iranian media reported.

Photos showed Shamkhani attending the funeral of senior Iranian commanders killed in recent fighting with Israel. He had been targeted on the first night of Israeli attacks, and initial reports said he had been killed. State-linked outlets later said he was wounded but survived.

Iran should halt cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in line with a new law approved by the Guardian Council, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Saturday.

Speaking to SNNTV at a funeral for those killed in recent attacks, Ejei said the IAEA had shared information with Iran’s enemies and could no longer be trusted. “When the agency cooperates with hostile powers and gives them information, it is natural that we cannot continue working with it as before,” he said.

The remarks follow Thursday’s announcement by the Guardian Council that it had approved a parliamentary bill requiring the government to suspend cooperation with the agency. The law now has full legal force.