Iran parliament holds emergency session on Cairo accord with IAEA
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi in Cairo, Egypt, September 9, 2025.
The Iranian parliament on Saturday convened an emergency meeting with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to review the government’s new cooperation agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed in Cairo.
"The lawmakers had questions and concerns that are legitimate and stem from their supervisory role, which they must exercise, and we also have a duty to provide answers," Araghchi told reporters after the meeting.
Lawmakers were supposed to seek explanations on how the accord, signed in Cairo on Tuesday, complies with legislation suspending cooperation with the agency after June's conflict with Israel.
"In today’s session, some of these concerns were raised, and there was consultation on how to move forward more effectively, neutralize the enemies’ tricks in political and international arenas against the people, and safeguard the country’s interests," Araghchi said.
He described the meeting with lawmakers as "very good, constructive, and scientific."
More than 60 MPs earlier backed a request for a special session with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani to provide clarification. The move came after parliament went into recess until September 27, prompting criticism that oversight was being avoided.
Conservative MP Hamed Yazdian, who initiated the request, said the session was needed to assess “the extent of conformity of the Cairo agreement with the law passed by parliament.”
Strong criticism of Grossi
The deal has sparked sharp reactions from hardline lawmakers. Javad Hosseini-Kia called IAEA chief Rafael Grossi “a Mossad agent” and urged that he be arrested if he enters Iran.
Another MP, Mohammadreza Mohseni-Sani, said inspectors “have no right” to enter Iran until damaged nuclear facilities are restored, warning that if UN sanctions are reimposed under the “snapback” mechanism, parliament would pursue leaving the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Some lawmakers, such as Ahmad Bakhshayesh, have argued Iran should no longer limit itself to peaceful nuclear activities, while others, including Mahmoud Nabavian, have branded the Cairo accord a “cursed agreement.”
By contrast, former nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi has described it as “positive” but cautioned that time is running out for diplomacy.
Araghchi insists the Cairo accord safeguards Iran’s interests and is consistent with the law suspending cooperation. He said it recognizes Tehran’s security concerns, guarantees Iran’s rights, and “creates no access” for inspectors at this stage.
Any monitoring, he added, would only be discussed later with approval from the Supreme National Security Council.
The debate in Tehran comes as France, Germany, and Britain have triggered the UN “snapback” mechanism, which could restore sanctions at the end of September. One of their conditions for pausing the process is renewed IAEA access, a demand the United States and European Union have also emphasized.
Israeli officials told French authorities that Iran’s nuclear program was not entirely destroyed in June’s US-Israeli airstrikes, Le Monde reported on Friday.
The French newspaper, citing diplomatic sources, said the information was shared in early September. Le Monde quoted Israeli intelligence as saying that “while the centrifuge manufacturing sites and most of the uranium enrichment facilities were destroyed, particularly at Fordow and Natanz, Iran still possesses this type of equipment.” Officials added: “Too few to restart the program in the short term, but it’s only a matter of time.”
Le Monde said France values the Israeli assessment because US intelligence has stopped sharing information on Iran’s program with European partners since the June war.
Cairo deal and snapback
Iran has rejected the idea that its program was wiped out. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Le Monde in July that “the claim that a peaceful nuclear program has been annihilated is a miscalculation” and said the strikes had “reignited” a nuclear arms race.
This week, Araghchi said Iran’s new agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, signed in Cairo, does not currently allow inspectors into nuclear sites. He said the deal is consistent with a law passed after the June strikes that suspended cooperation pending approval by the Supreme National Security Council. He added that its continuation depends on Western powers not restoring UN sanctions under the “snapback” mechanism.
Britain, France and Germany triggered snapback in late August, which could restore sanctions at the end of September. They said they would pause the process only if Iran restored IAEA inspections, accounted for its highly enriched uranium stockpile, and engaged in nuclear talks with the United States.
Western pressure
The United States and European Union pressed Tehran to act quickly. Acting US envoy Howard Solomon told the IAEA board that Iran had “ceased implementing its most basic obligations.” The EU said safeguards access is “non-negotiable,” while France, Germany and Britain said they were “alarmed” by Iran’s uranium stockpile.
A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader warned on Saturday that Azerbaijan would damage the image of Shiites if it proceeds with plans to host a major rabbinical meeting.
Ali Akbar Velayati said he hoped reports of the event were false, describing it as “anti-Islamic and against the dignity of Shiites.”
Such a move by Baku, he added, was unprecedented and suggested it might be tied to efforts to widen the Abraham Accords, under which several Muslim states normalized ties with Israel.
The remarks appeared aimed at the Conference of European Rabbis, scheduled for Nov. 4–6 in Baku, where Jewish leaders from across Europe are due to convene.
Velayati’s comments come as Azerbaijan deepens international links, including through a landmark peace deal reached in Washington last month. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed the accord at the White House with US President Donald Trump, granting exclusive US development rights to a transit corridor through the South Caucasus.
The route will connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave across southern Armenia. The White House said the project, named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, would expand energy and resource exports.
Tehran has objected to the corridor, warning it sidelines Iranian trade routes and diminishes its role in the region. Iranian officials have also accused Azerbaijan of permitting Israeli activity on its soil, intensifying mistrust.
The dispute over the rabbinical gathering now adds a cultural and religious dimension to already fraught relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.
Australia joined G7 Rapid Response Mechanism members on Friday in denouncing what they described as Iran’s systematic targeting of opponents overseas.
“Iranian intelligence services have increasingly attempted to kill, kidnap, and harass political opponents abroad, following a disturbing and unacceptable pattern of transnational repression, and clearly undermining state sovereignty,” the joint statement said.
The signatories included the G7 states—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union—alongside associate members Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. They cited Iranian efforts to intimidate journalists and Jewish communities, as well as operations to obtain and expose personal information in order to divide societies.
“The G7 RRM stands in solidarity with our international partners whose citizens and residents have also been targeted by Iran,” the statement added, pledging to continue countering foreign interference and safeguarding national sovereignty.
Canberra expelled ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi late last month following an ASIO-led investigation linking Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to two anti-Semitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney.
Separately, Canberra announced the renewal of counter-terrorism sanctions against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“The Albanese Government has zero tolerance for foreign interference and violence in Australia,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in an X post, reiterating calls for the release of hostages taken on October 7, 2023.
Hamas is now considered one of the Iran's armed militant proxy forces in the region, alongside the Lebanese Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthis and a collection of Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
The United States Air Force has ordered a batch of cutting-edge new bunker buster bombs, Defense News reported this week, reaching for the successor technology to huge ordnance which pounded Iranian nuclear sites in June.
The new Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) contract has been awarded to Applied Research Associates (ARA) for a two-year prototype design, according to the outlet.
Boeing, which originally developed the MOP, will team up with ARA for the design and full integration of new features, it added in an article on Monday.
The bombs the United States used against Iranian nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in a surprise attack on June 22 were GBU-57 MOPs.
The GBU-57 is a 30,000-pound GPS-guided bunker buster designed to destroy hardened and deeply buried nuclear facilities which is carried by the B-2 Spirit bomber.
Its first combat use came in the June strikes in the strikes dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, when the Air Force dropped 12 bombs on the Fordow nuclear site alone.
The successor MOP, called the Next Generation Penetrator (NGP_ will focus on deeper penetration and reduced weight. Unlike the GBU-57, it will not exceed 22,000 pounds, and its guidance system will remain effective even if the enemy jams or disables GPS.
The weapon will also incorporate advanced fuzing to increase effectiveness against previously untested environments, another outlet The War Zone reported.
“Advanced fuzes with features like the ability to ‘count’ floors to determine depth and sense the ‘voids’ formed by underground mission spaces greatly increase the potential for maximum damage from a weapon like MOP,” TWZ wrote.
The United States began designing the GBU-57 in 2004 under the Air Force Research Laboratory, with production and first deliveries starting in 2011.
President Donald Trump has said the bombings "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, adding that his decision to strike the sites forestalled a nuclear war.
Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said on Friday they had seized $584,741 in cryptocurrency from an Iranian national tied to the Revolutionary Guards’ drone manufacturing program.
The assets belonged to Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, also known as Mohammad Abedini, 39, of Tehran.
“The government seized USDT (Tether) from an un-hosted cryptocurrency wallet alleged to be controlled by Abedini,” the Justice Department announced in a statement on Thursday.
USDT (Tether) is a stablecoin, meaning its value is tied to the US dollar. The cryptocurrency has been issued by Tether Limited since 2014.
Abedini is the founder and managing director of San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co. (SDRA), a company that manufactures navigation system modules, including the Sepehr Navigation System (SNS), used in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military drone program, the Justice Department alleged.
The IRGC has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the United States since 2019.
The SNS is used in guided rockets and missile-integrated navigation systems. In January 2024, three US service members were killed in an attack Washington blamed on the IRGC. A drone recovered from the attack was identified as a Shahed drone equipped with the SNS guidance system.
The strike targeted Tower 22, a US military base in northern Jordan, injuring more than 40 others.
“US law authorizes the forfeiture of all assets of individuals or entities engaged in planning or perpetrating a federal crime of terrorism against the United States, its citizens or residents, or their property, and all assets, foreign or domestic, affording any person a source of influence over any such entity,” the Justice Department said.
The United States charged Abedini in 2024 with conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components from the US to Iran and providing material support to a designated FTO.
He was arrested in Italy in December 2024 at the request of the United States, which sought his extradition. Abedini was released in January 2025 after Italy appeared to swap him for an Italian journalist detained in Tehran.
Italian authorities determined that violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are not punishable under Italian law, in line with the Italy–US extradition treaty.