“No enrichment, No deal" Iran tells U.S., warns Europe of “strategic mistake” ahead of IAEA meeting

Ahead of the IAEA meeting in Vienna, Iran’s foreign minister reaffirmed the country’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment and warned Europe against seeking renewed UN sanctions, calling such efforts a “major strategic mistake.”

On the verge of the upcoming meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) next week in Vienna, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has again dismissed halting the Islamic Republic’s enrichment capability and also strongly warned Europe over the “major strategic mistake” of pursuing re-imposition of UN nuclear sanctions.

“No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal,” he wrote in a message on his X account as the UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors will meet on June 9-13 and Iran’s nuclear program is one of the items on its agenda.

Last May, Iran’s top diplomat sent a similar message in reaction to reports suggesting the U.S. is pushing for ‘zero enrichment’ in response to Iran’s demands for lifting of sanctions.

In a matter of one month, the U.S. officially relayed its proposal to Iran via Oman last week and excerpts of an IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program were released days ago.

Iran reacted strongly to the U.S. demand rejecting the halt of its enrichment capacity as a “non-negotiable redline” and dismissed the UN agency’s report as “politically motivated and unbalanced”, saying it was prepared under pressure of certain countries.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the U.S. proposal is “100 percent against” the revolution’s objective of independence.

While both Tehran and Washington have avoided disclosing details of their five rounds of indirect talks mediated by the Sultanate of Oman since April, the unconfirmed news media reports said the U.S. proposal includes a consortium of regional countries for uranium enrichment by Iran.

Despite of expectations on the sixth round of the Iran-U.S. talks this weekend to continue the discussions, there are no news their negotiators will be meeting again prior to the upcoming IAEA event.

In the meantime, the European troika of France, Germany and the UK (E3) which are signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, known as the JCPoA, have been pushing for return of the UN nuclear sanctions which were lifted under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 months after JCPoA was signed in Vienna.

“Instead of engaging in good faith, the E3 is opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors. When the E3 engaged in the same foul conduct back in 2005, the outcome in many ways was the true birth of uranium enrichment in Iran. Has the E3 truly learned nothing in the past two decades?” Araghchi wrote in an X message on Friday.

The so-called “trigger mechanism” provided for under the Vienna nuclear agreement will be reactivated if IAEA finds Iran in breach of its obligations which will be tabled at the UNSC meeting in October.

“After years of good cooperation with the IAEA—resulting in a resolution which shut down malign claims of a "possible military dimension" (PMD) to Iran's peaceful nuclear program—my country is once again accused of "non-compliance", Iran’s top diplomat added.

Iran maintains it does not have any undeclared nuclear material or activity and has vowed to respond to the IAEA decision on whether to report Iran to the UN Security Council based on the emerging conditions and developments.

“Mark my words as Europe ponders another major strategic mistake: Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights. Blame lies solely and fully with irresponsible actors who stop at nothing to gain relevance,” Iran’s foreign minister warned.

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