An Iranian lawmaker said on Wednesday the country should pursue building a nuclear weapon since it already paid a heavy price for its nuclear activities in a 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States in June.
“I’ve always believed we should have built it long ago. I’ve always supported building a nuclear bomb because we’ve already paid the costs for it,” national security committee member Ahmad Bakhshayesh told state media on Tuesday.
Bakhshayesh argued that nuclear-armed China is a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that Iran should have taken the same path long ago.
“We should have built it without leaving the NPT,” he added. “We’ve been entangled in this nuclear issue in our country for 25 years now.”
Beijing acceded to the NPT in 1992 but conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1964. China is one of the five recognized nuclear-weapon states under the agreement, alongside the US, Russia, the UK, and France.
NPT debate in Tehran
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom last month triggered the so-called "snapback" mechanism within a 2015 international nuclear deal to which they are party along with Iran, giving Tehran 30 days to comply with the agreement or face restored international sanctions.
Calls have grown inside Iran to withdraw from the NPT in response.
A bill to exit the agreement is under review in the Iranian parliament. Some lawmakers argue the legislature can pass the measure on its own, while former nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the ultimate decision rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
'No inspection yet'
UN nuclear chief Raphael Grossi on Wednesday inked a deal to pave a way forward on resuming cooperation with Iran alongside its foreign minister Abbas Araghchi at a ceremony in Cairo.
Araghchi later told state TV that the Cairo agreement “recognizes Iran’s legitimate security concerns" and does not by itself reopen facilities to inspectors.
The three European powers said on Wednesday they were alarmed by the lack of clarity on Iran's stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium and that Tehran must show not claim if it wanted to avoid more sanctions.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV that the Cairo agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi “recognizes Iran’s legitimate security concerns,” aligns cooperation with a new domestic legal framework, and does not by itself reopen facilities to inspectors.
“Based on this agreement, no access is being granted to IAEA inspectors at the moment,” he said. “The nature and scope of inspectors’ access will be discussed in due course after Iran submits its reports, and any access will be negotiated at the appropriate time.”
Araghchi said one exception continues under an earlier decision. “No access is granted now except at the Bushehr power plant due to a fuel change. This access was approved by the Supreme National Security Council and is ongoing,” he said.
He stressed that the document reflects Tehran’s post-June war posture. “A new situation was created after the attacks on our nuclear facilities. Cooperation cannot be the same as before and must take a new form,” he said.
“The agreement has accepted Iran’s security concerns as legitimate, recognized Iran’s rights, and defines a new shape of cooperation with the Agency. This was exactly what we sought.”
Cairo pact cleared by top authorities
Araghchi said the government’s approach has been cleared at the highest level. “The negotiations and the provisions needed to meet our concerns were raised and approved at the Supreme National Security Council,” he said, adding that under Iran’s law “everything must be approved by the SNSC, and that pathway is recognized in this document.”
He also tied the accord’s implementation to the broader diplomatic track with Europe, which has triggered the UN “snapback” mechanism to restore sanctions unless monitoring advances.
“I must emphasize that the validity and continuation of this agreement depend on there being no hostile action against the Islamic Republic, including activation of snapback,” Araghchi said, echoing similar remarks by Grossi earlier in the day.
'Deal is void if sanctions return'
“I said clearly in the negotiations, to our Egyptian hosts and at the press conference, that if any hostile action is taken, including the reinstatement of cancelled UN Security Council resolutions, Iran will consider these practical steps null and void.”
Araghchi called the Cairo talks “a step in the right direction to remove pretexts” used by critics. “It disarms those who sought to exploit the situation for their own purposes,” he said, while thanking Egypt’s president and foreign minister for facilitating the discussions.
Grossi, briefing IAEA member states in Vienna earlier in the day, described the technical document as setting out procedures for inspections, notifications and reporting and said it is intended to restore safeguards activity across Iran’s declared program.
“This includes all facilities and installations in Iran, and it also contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked facilities, including the nuclear material present at those,” he said.
He added that safeguards approaches for each site would be reviewed at a technical level “in line with the rights and obligations of Iran and the Agency under the NPT Safeguards Agreement, which are not modified or amended as a result of these practical steps.”
Grossi said resuming work after the June strikes that forced inspectors to withdraw would not be “an automatic or simple bureaucratic process,” but welcomed what he called Iran’s stated decision to remain within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty framework.
“Iran and the Agency will now resume cooperation in a respectful and comprehensive way,” he said, while cautioning there could be “difficulties and issues to be resolved” during implementation.
Britain, France and Germany began the snapback process in late August, saying they would pause it only if Iran restored inspections, accounted for its highly enriched uranium stockpile and engaged in nuclear talks with the United States.
Diplomats say whether the new steps will be sufficient to head off sanctions will hinge on how quickly inspectors can resume work on the ground and whether Tehran provides a full accounting.
Araghchi emphasized that the new arrangement is calibrated to Iran’s internal law while keeping a door open to technical engagement. “The new framework moves exactly along the path set by the parliament’s law,” he said. “It pays attention to Iran’s security concerns, recognizes Iran’s rights, and defines a new shape of cooperation with the Agency. We hope this will advance a diplomatic solution—provided the other side is serious about one.”
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told member states in Vienna that the technical document signed in Cairo on Tuesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sets out procedures for inspections, notifications, and reporting obligations.
“This includes all facilities and installations in Iran, and it also contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked facilities, including the nuclear material present at those,” Grossi said.
Grossi acknowledged the challenges posed by the aftermath of June’s Israeli and US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which forced the withdrawal of inspectors for safety reasons.
“Safeguards approaches to each facility will be reviewed at technical level, always in line with the rights and obligations of Iran and the agency under the NPT safeguards agreement, which are not modified or amended as a result of these practical steps,” he said.
“Resuming this indispensable work would not be an automatic or simple bureaucratic process,” he said, adding that Iran’s parliament had since adopted a law suspending cooperation, creating the risk of non-compliance with safeguards obligations.
But he pointed to what he called “Iran’s declared willingness not to leave the NPT and to continue working inside the international nonproliferation regime” as a positive signal.
Grossi said the new arrangement reflected both Iran’s concerns and the agency’s technical requirements. “Iran and the agency will now resume cooperation in a respectful and comprehensive way,” he told diplomats.
He said the talks were aimed at finding ways to reconcile Iran’s new legislation with its binding treaty obligations, adding: “This required dialogue and a thorough understanding of the situation and Iran’s specific views.”
"Iran expressed concerns, and it is our duty as an international organization to listen to those and find ways and means to address them in a form which would reconcile these important parameters, Iran's new law and the existing legal obligations emanating from the NPT safeguards agreement”
While he cautioned that “there may be difficulties and issues to be resolved,” he underlined the broader importance of the agreement.
“It is my sincere hope that the resumption of our inspection activity in Iran may serve as a good sign, as a reference, an indication that agreements and understandings are possible,” Grossi said.
Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA following the June attacks, and last month Britain, France and Germany triggered a UN “snapback” process to restore sanctions unless inspections resumed and Iran provided clarity on its enriched uranium stockpile.
Araghchi, speaking in Cairo on Tuesday, said the agreement created “a practical mechanism for cooperation” but warned that Iran would void it if hostile measures, including renewed UN sanctions, were imposed.
Diplomats say whether the new steps will be sufficient to head off European sanctions will depend on how quickly inspectors can resume work and whether Tehran provides full accounting of its highly enriched uranium.