Iran slams UN nuclear chief over 'provocative' remarks

Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, speaking in Isfahan (Esfahan), home to the Natanz nuclear facility, said: "We must continue on the path of progress with effort and perseverance, and Iran's nuclear technology will never be restricted."

The Islamic Republic began violating the enrichment limits set by the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement after the United States withdrew from the accord in 2018. Following President Joe Biden’s election, Tehran announced an increase in uranium enrichment to 20% purity, later escalating to 60%, a level widely regarded as just short of the threshold needed for producing fissile material suitable for nuclear weapons.

Subsequent negotiations with the US and the European E3 countries — the UK, France, and Germany — failed to resolve key differences, revive the JCPOA, or establish a new agreement. As a result, Iran is now believed to possess enough 60% enriched uranium to produce 4 to 5 atomic bombs, should it choose to pursue nuclear weapons.

"Science and technology are considered key factors in creating power and authority," Eslami added, in spite of Iran's pursuit of nuclear power contributing to its isolation on the world stage.

"A country can maintain its independence and progress only if it pursues its development without reliance on others, especially the dominant global powers," he said.

This strategy, mainly directed against the West, has inflicted major harm on Iran’s economy, which now suffers from 50% annual inflation and a currency that has fallen 11,000-fold in the past 45 years.

Widespread energy shortages have forced the government to close offices, factories and schools in many provinces this week, while the country holds the second largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Iran’s nuclear program has cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue and economic growth due to 15 years of international and US-imposed sanctions.

With Donald Trump set to assume the presidency in the US, Tehran faces his “maximum pressure” policy, which includes stricter enforcement of sanctions and potentially additional restrictions.

“Is that a serious question?” asked the president-elect in his first formal press conference since winning the election last month.

“I can’t tell you that,” said Trump, “Am I going to do preemptive strikes, why would I say that? Can you imagine if I said yes or no? You would say that was strange that he answered that question”

Another reporter followed up by asking if Trump would support Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program.

“How could I tell you a thing like that now? You don’t talk about that before something may or may not happen,” Trump responded.

A recent Wall Street Journal report, citing U.S. transition officials, said Trump is weighing the idea of preemptive strikes to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb, and discussed concerns over Iran's nuclear program with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call.

Throughout the lengthy press conference, the soon-to-be 47th president confirmed his phone conversation but would not provide details other than to say the Middle East will be easier to resolve than the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

“We just had a very good conversation. The real conversations will start on the 20th,” said Trump. “I think we're going to be in a good place in the Middle East. I think actually more difficult is going to be the Russia Ukraine situation.”

Members of Trump’s transition team are reviewing a military option, according to the Wall Street Journal report, following the collapse of Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad and the weakening of Iran’s allies Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build four nuclear bombs, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The president-elect was similarly non-committal in an interview last week with Time magazine, which named him 2024 “Person of the Year”.

"Anything can happen. Anything can happen. It's a very volatile situation," he said.

"I have been entrusted with the project of determining Iran's position in the global order," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's supreme national security council from 2013 to 2023, said in an interview with Nour News.

The Iranian outlet cited him as adding that he is the official ultimately responsible for the country's nuclear diplomacy dossier and sanctions.

The assertions appeared aimed at reviving the relevance of a figure whose hardline stance on engagement with outside powers has been criticized by relative moderates as Iran's geopolitical influence wanes and economy suffers.

Shamkhani defended legislation he is widely believed to have crafted in December 2020 to boost Iranian uranium enrichment up to 20% which was blamed for harming chances for reviving a lapsed nuclear deal just as relative dove Joe Biden took office.

"The Strategic Action Plan is not a bad law; it was proposed in response to Trump's pressures, and our nuclear achievements are owed to this law," Shamkhani said.

His remarks come as Iran faces a dilemma over whether to double down on a muscular military policy in the region which has taken a severe pounding from Israel or to re-engage the West its disputed nuclear as Donald Trump's return looms.

The influential former military figure has been under intense scrutiny lately over his family's sprawling business interests.

Shamkhani's interview seems to have backfired as critics linked to the Reform camp and the government of former President Hassan Rouhani have again criticized him as a cause of Iran's woes who has been enriched by dodging sanctions which plague the livelihoods of ordinary Iranians.

His comments appear to be a deliberate doubling down on hawkish policies despite mounting domestic and international woes.

“Hardline and aggressive agents chosen by #Trump, if they learned from the past, will have no choice but to opt for rationality and respect in the face of Iranians' strong will to continue #Resistance,” Shamkhani said in a post on X last month.

Shamkhani, formerly a rear admiral in the IRGC, has in recent years become widely known for his and his sons' roles as emerging oil tycoons. They have been implicated in circumventing US sanctions and selling the Islamic Republic's oil through the use of ghost fleets. The allegation of oil dealings became a widely publicized affair in international media in 2024.

Shamkhani’s reputation as a corrupt insider extends beyond his alleged involvement in dubious oil dealings. After the collapse of a high-rise building in Abadan in 2022, which resulted in the loss of dozens of lives, accusations emerged linking Shamkhani and his associates to financial corruption and the exploitation of his influence as a rear admiral. While Shamkhani denied the corruption allegations, Iranian media remained skeptical, citing substantial evidence that cast doubt on his claims of innocence.

Yet another damning controversy surrounding Shamkhani was the execution of one of his former aides Alireza Akbari for espionage. That also did not affect his influence within Tehran’s power structures. The political system dominated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also turned a blind eye to Shamkhani's financial link to an IRGC-backed drug lord.

In the interview, Shamkhani criticized former presidents and claimed he had never voted for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hassan Rouhani, or Ebrahim Raisi. However, critics accused him of complicity in nearly every major decision made in Iran over the past 45 years, including significant financial scandals, while attempting to shift blame onto others.

Mohammad Heydari, managing editor of the Rouydad 24 News website in Tehran, noted that Shamkhani was an integral part of the administrations led by the very presidents he claims not to have voted for. As such, he bears responsibility for their actions and decisions.

Former Reformist MP Mahmoud Sadeghi in a video posted on X accused Shamkhani of being responsible for opening fire at protesters in major demonstrations since 2018. "We never forget and never forgive that."

In another post on X, Iranian political analyst Rouhollah Rahimpour argued that since Shamkhani claims to oversee Iran's nuclear dossier, he should be held accountable for the failures of past nuclear negotiations and possibly those in the future.

Bahram Parsaei, a member of the parliament from Shiraz wrote that Shamkhani has played a major part in the failure of the Rouhani administration and in the inclusion of Iran in the FATF blacklist, which significantly restricts Iran’s international banking and trade.

Although Shamkhani may have chosen to take part in that interview was to overshadow the controversy about his oil empire linked to his family, the decision could signal renewed political ambitions.

Shamkhani has made it clear more than once that he wishes to rise to the post of the security chief again, although Khamenei has so far demurred. Former President Hassan Rouhani has said that Khamenei was against Shamkhani's appointment as security chief in his government.

Mohammad Eslami attributed the decision to Iran’s growing uranium enrichment activities, describing the enhanced inspections as a natural consequence of the program's expansion.

“As the scale of nuclear activities grows, the level of inspections must also rise,” Eslami said, without elaborating on the specifics of the increased monitoring.

The development follows reports based on a confidential IAEA document, indicating that Iran had agreed to more frequent and rigorous inspections at the Fordow nuclear site.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran had significantly accelerated its uranium enrichment at levels of up to 60% purity—nearing the 90% threshold required for weapons-grade material—at the Fordow facility. Western powers have labeled this development a highly serious escalation in their ongoing standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.

Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency clarified that the increased monitoring pertains to the number of inspections rather than a larger deployment of inspectors.

In addition, Eslami acknowledged efforts to address two unresolved older cases related to undeclared nuclear materials.

"‌We will engage with the IAEA regarding the two remaining locations to close the cases."

The IAEA Board of Governors, however, remains troubled by the past discovery of undeclared nuclear materials at several sites and Iran’s failure to fully account for them.

Last month, the IAEA Board of Governors adopted a resolution urging Iran to enhance its cooperation with the agency. The resolution, proposed by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States, expressed profound concern over Iran's insufficient cooperation and the unresolved safeguards issues, emphasizing the necessity for Iran to fulfill its legal obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi recently estimated that Iran possesses enough uranium enriched to 60% to potentially produce several nuclear bombs if the material were further enriched to 90%. This alarming threshold has intensified concerns among Western powers.

Eslami, however, pushed back against international criticism, accusing “certain entities, especially Israel, of fearmongering about Iran’s nuclear activities.”

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, though officials have increasingly alluded to the potential pursuit of nuclear weapons in recent statements.

The heightened scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear program comes amid reports of attacks on its nuclear facilities, which Tehran has often attributed to Israel. Simultaneously, debates about preemptive military action against Iran have gained traction in the United States. A Wall Street Journal report on Friday said that members of President-elect Donald Trump’s team are considering military options to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, including airstrikes.

In an interview with Time magazine, Trump, recently named Person of the Year, left open the possibility of military action, further stoking tensions. These discussions add to a growing sense of urgency as Iran’s enrichment activities continue and the IAEA demands greater transparency.

Mohammad Marandi, speaking about a possible US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, tweeted, “Slight problem. The US Al Udeid air base in is tiny Qatar. In case of aggression, the natural gas facilities and infrastructure in Qatar will be totally destroyed. Hence, there will be no natural gas from Doha. Hence, there will be no Qatar. Things won’t end there either…”

The post on X was apparently later deleted, but some websites in Tehran had republished the text of the tweet.

Marandi's remarks are surprising given Doha's close relations with Tehran and its mediating role between Iran and Western countries.

Although Tehran’s government media did not report about the tweet, some semi-independent websites simply reported it.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a prominent foreign policy expert and former senior lawmaker known for his critical stance on foreign policy issues, responded with his own tweet refraining from naming Marandi.

“...and this time, a threat to attack #Qatar.
For years, a dangerous faction has been undermining opportunities for de-escalation and lifting sanctions on Iran, while simultaneously pushing to make the country's foreign policy self-destructive.”

In 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting disruption in Europe’s energy supplies, Marandi opposed reaching a nuclear deal with the West. He argued that as Europe faced a harsh winter, it would ultimately capitulate to Iran’s demands. Eighteen months of multilateral negotiations collapsed in September of that year.

Now, two years later, Iran is facing a severe energy crisis. Decades of underinvestment have significantly reduced natural gas production and electricity supplies, resulting in widespread blackouts across the country. While internal mismanagement has played a role, US sanctions are widely regarded as a key factor behind the deterioration of Iran’s infrastructure.