US, European allies submit IAEA resolution urging Iran's swift cooperation

"The reports of the IAEA Director General speak for themselves, as they highlight Iran’s ongoing violations of its key obligations. This particularly concerns the still-unclarified whereabouts of the stocks of highly enriched uranium," the spokesperson said.

Last week, in a confidential report cited by Reuters, the IAEA said Iran has yet to allow UN inspectors to visit nuclear sites hit by Israeli and US airstrikes in June, adding that the verification of Tehran’s enriched uranium is “long overdue.”

“The Agency’s lack of access to this nuclear material in Iran for five months means that its verification is long overdue,” the IAEA said in the report to member states.

Under its obligations as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran must submit a detailed report on the status of the bombed facilities “without delay,” but has yet to do so, the IAEA added. Only after such a report is received can inspectors return to the damaged sites.

The spokesperson added that the E3 — Germany, France and the United Kingdom — have repeatedly raised their concerns on Iran's violations publicly and they were the reason the troika triggered the so-called snapback of sanctions.

The E3 triggered the snapback mechanism under the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 which led to the restoration of UN sanctions on Iran in late September.

European states are expected to discuss a draft resolution critical of Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting later this week.

According to the spokesperson, no specific agenda item is planned on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, but Berlin said the issue will still be addressed based on reporting from the IAEA director general and the UN resolutions that re-entered into force following the snapback mechanism.

European countries and the United States have called for renewed talks between Washington and Tehran, but Iran says it will not renounce domestic uranium enrichment or discuss its missile program and its support for regional armed groups.

"Germany, together with its E3 partners France and the United Kingdom, continues to advocate for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program," the spokesperson added.

Earlier this month, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said although the June attacks on Iran's Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow nuclear sites “severely damaged” the country's nuclear program, the country retains the knowledge and material “to manufacture a few nuclear weapons."

Before the attacks, inspectors had verified about 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity—enough, if further refined, for roughly 10 nuclear weapons under IAEA criteria.

Iranian officials, including Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, have repeatedly said the enriched uranium is buried "under rubble" left from the June strikes.

Tehran denies seeking a bomb but Western powers and Israel doubt its intentions.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, deputy foreign minister and head of the ministry’s political studies center, told CNN that Iran’s nuclear program “cannot be shut down,” adding that infrastructure had been damaged in recent conflicts but the program rests on “domestically developed knowledge spread across the country.”

He added US officials must abandon the idea of leveraging diplomacy to achieve goals they failed to secure through military pressure.

“We cannot enter a negotiation that is doomed to fail and ultimately becomes a pretext for another war. If the other side accepts the logic of negotiation – meaning give-and-take – sets aside certain illusions, and stops trying to use political and diplomatic tools to obtain what it could not achieve through a military campaign, then we can move forward within the framework outlined by the Supreme Leader.” 

Khatibzadeh said Iran remains prepared to avoid further escalation in the region but warned that the country “is not an easy target,” citing the 12-day conflict with Israel earlier this year. “Iran is the oldest continuous living civilization on Earth,” he said. “The only language we respond to is the language of respect and equal-footing dialogue.”

Asked about US demands over Iran’s nuclear activities, he said international law makes clear that Tehran is entitled to the full range of peaceful nuclear rights as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and under IAEA oversight. 

“Iran will not accept being treated as an exception,” he said. “Ideas such as halting enrichment entirely or restricting Iran’s basic rights are unacceptable.”

Prospect of another war 

Khatibzadeh said Iran had already begun rebuilding its defensive posture after the ceasefire.

“The other side is preparing for another war,” he said. “Every legitimate defensive capability must be strengthened. No country compromises on its national security and Iran is no exception.”

He added that Iran’s goal remains to prevent another conflict. “We are trying to change the strategic calculations in Tel Aviv and Washington,” he said. “We are ready for any adventure they may attempt, but we are doing everything to avoid war.”

He rejected suggestions that Iran’s missile strikes during the conflict were ineffective. 

“They claimed Iran could not respond,” he said. “They censored the reality and said our missile penetration rate was 10%, then later 30–40%. The truth is much higher. With our advanced missiles we were able to penetrate multiple defense layers and strike wherever and whenever we chose.”

Khatibzadeh said Iran maintains multi-layered relations with Russia and a strategic partnership with China, and would continue cooperation with both countries. 

He also dismissed speculation that Iran might reassess its position on nuclear weapons. “We are members of the NPT and the IAEA. Even after hostile actions by the Trump administration and the bombing of peaceful nuclear facilities, we did not leave the NPT,” he said. “Our nuclear program is peaceful and supported by the Leader’s fatwa.”

“Two thousand-ton blocks are being built on the site, the second and the third. Work is progressing,” Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev told state-owned television channel Russia-1 TV.

Likhachev said construction of the new units was advancing with major structural components being installed.

The work, he added, involves around 3,000 specialists, including about 700 Russian citizens.

In September, Iranian state media reported that Likhachev and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami signed a memorandum on cooperation for small nuclear power plants in Iran.

In early June, Reza Banazadeh, head of the Bushehr facility announced that Iran plans to expand its nuclear power capacity over the next 18 years with the construction of two additional units at the Bushehr nuclear plant.

The second unit, he added, will take 10 years to complete and the third around eight years. Once finished, the three units would generate a combined 3,100 megawatts of electricity, he added.

Banazadeh said at the time that 2,000 Iranian specialists operate the Bushehr plant, which he described as a showcase of domestic capability.

“All critical roles, from control rooms to maintenance, are handled by Iranian experts,” he said.

Amid the Iran-Israel war in June, an Israeli military spokesperson cited by Reuters said on June 19 that Israel had struck the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant — an assertion Reuters reported the spokesperson later said had been made “by mistake.”

On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Israel had agreed to ensure the security of more than 200 Russian employees working at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

A day later, Likhachev said the situation at Bushehr nuclear power plant, where hundreds of Russian specialists work, was under control.

In an editorial published on Monday, the reform-leaning HamMihan newspaper said recent statements by senior Iranian officials had sent mixed signals about diplomacy, creating the impression of “uncertainty and waiting” both inside the government and across society.

The paper said officials repeatedly said that Iran’s strategic positions “are unchangeable,” while also signaling that “they do not want the possibility of positive news to be closed off.” According to HamMihan, this dual approach risks weakening the impact of important developments.

“This pattern of communication has the opposite result and leads to desensitization toward news,” the editorial said. “It makes people more distrustful and increases a sense of hopelessness. Being transparent and straightforward with public opinion has better effects.”

The newspaper highlighted a series of comments made by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other Iranian diplomats over the past week. HamMihan said that Araghchi initially said “there is currently no possibility” for negotiations because Iran sees “no positive or constructive approach from the United States.” 

However, days later he was quoted as saying that “a request for negotiations has been revived because the military approach failed to achieve what was sought regarding Iran’s nuclear program.”

According to the editorial, such shifts create questions that officials have not answered. “If Iran has not changed its position, what changes has the Foreign Ministry seen in the other side that would make talks possible?” it asked, adding that it remained unclear whether the reference was to the United States or European governments.

HamMihan argued that public expectations had risen after earlier signs of potential diplomacy but were later dashed by a 12-day conflict that halted those efforts. 

With little movement on domestic reforms and no clear pathway on foreign policy, the editorial said the Iranian public and the government are “waiting for news that goes beyond daily headlines.”

The paper wrote: “We would like these talks to begin – serious and result-oriented – but we are concerned that this manner of news reporting lacks sufficient grounding and will make society more disappointed.”

Iran’s “peaceful nuclear program is intact, as we are speaking,” CNN quoted Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying in a interview.

He acknowledged that the strikes had “ruined many of our infrastructure, machineries” and “buildings,” but said the program was “very much based on our indigenous knowledge” and dispersed across a “huge country – 90 million people.”

“And this country is not a country that you can bomb and then think that you are going to ruin everything,” Khatibzadeh added.

The 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June and subsequent US airstrikes targeted the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites.

US President Donald Trump had initially said Fordow had been "obliterated," but an early US intelligence assessment indicated the attacks badly damaged the three facilities but may have set Iran’s program back by only up to two years.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a confidential report Wednesday that checking Iran’s stock of highly enriched uranium was “long overdue,” with inspectors still barred from entering the bombed sites.

CNN's report said Khatibzadeh did not comment on whether enrichment was taking place at Iran’s facilities, but said any future dialogue with the United States would require recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

“Delusions of zero enrichment inside Iran or trying to deprive Iran from its basic rights is not going to be an option for Iran,” CNN quoted Khatibzadeh as saying.

Khatibzadeh’s remarks come as Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is no longer enriching uranium after Israeli and US strikes in June, but added the country will not give up its right to enrichment or nuclear technology.