Iran denounces Austria for blocking its nuclear chief from a meeting in Vienna
Austria said a U.N. sanctions committee rejected a waiver, blocking Mohammad Eslami from the meeting as Iran accused Washington of pressure.
- On Monday, Iran condemned Austria for excluding Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, from the United Nations nuclear agency gathering in Vienna, calling the decision a "serious breach" of Tehran's rights.
- Austria's ambassador to the IAEA, Christian Ebner, stated the country was forced to deny entry after a U.N. Security Council committee rejected Austria's request to exempt Eslami from a travel ban.
- Washington blocked the exemption request, with U.S. ambassador to the IAEA Preston Wells Griffith citing Iran's lack of "meaningful cooperation on nuclear safeguards" as the reason for the denial.
- Russian ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov echoed Iran and China in rejecting the sanction's legality, claiming Western nations "unleashed a genuine campaign of visa-related abuses" to settle scores with undesirable countries.
- The IAEA remains unable to verify Iran's stockpile of 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, having been blocked from nuclear sites since the 12-day war in June 2025.
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162 Articles
Reforma
Iran today reported that the U.S. pressured to prevent its nuclear chief from entering Austria, where the IAEA annual conference is held.
This is the first time that Mohammad Eslami has been denied access to the IAEA headquarters, the UN nuclear authority. The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to the AFP that he was subject to a UN travel ban and that his request for exemption had been refused.
At present, the IAEA has neither up-to-date information on Iran's uranium resources nor has access to the country's nuclear facilities. Iran's nuclear chief is supposed to comment at the IAEA General Conference - but the Trump administration is preventing this with its veto.
The Permanent Representative of Tehran to the international agencies in Vienna, Reza Nayafi, stated that preventing the presence of Mohamad Eslami.
According to Bloomberg, the decision was made after pressure from the Trump administration on the Austrian government - The Iranian official was informed while on a flight to Vienna
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