TEHRAN WARNS IAEA OVER N-DEAL DISPUTE
IRAN SAYS WILL REVIEW COOPERATION IF IT FACES ‘UNJUST’ MEASURES
DUBAI: Iran will review its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog should it face “unjust” measures, parliament speaker Ali Larijani said, after EU powers last week triggered a dispute mechanism under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
The move by France, UK and Germany amounts to formally accusing Iran of violating the terms of the deal and could lead eventually to reimposing UN sanctions that were lifted under the pact. “We state openly that if the European powers, for any reason, adopt an unfair approach in using the dispute mechanism, we will seriously reconsider our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” state TV quoted Larijani as saying.
Tehran said last week it would abandon limits on enriching uranium, though it would continue to cooperate with IAEA, which is policing the nuclear pact.
The dispute mechanism involves a Joint Commission, whose members are Iran, Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and the European Union, seeking to resolve the dispute.
BLACK BOXES MAY NOT BE SENT TO UKRAINE
The Iranian official leading the investigation into the Ukrainian jetliner that was accidentally shot down by the Revolutionary Guard appeared to backtrack Sunday on plans to send the flight recorders abroad for analysis, a day after saying they would be sent to Kyiv.
Hassan Rezaeifar was quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency as saying “the flight recorders from the Ukrainian Boeing are in Iranian hands and we have no plans to send them out.” He said Iran is working to recover the data and cabin recordings, and that it may send the flight recorders — commonly known as black boxes — to Ukraine or France. “But as of yet, we have made no decision.”
The flag-draped coffins of the 11 Ukrainians who died in the crash arrived in Kiev on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk and other officials attended the solemn ceremony at Kiev’s Boryspil airport to see caskets with the remains of the downed plane’s nine Ukrainian flight crew and two passengers being removed from the aircraft.
US SANCTIONS IRAN GUARDS COMMANDER
US state department said it has designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig Gen Hassan Shahvarpour, Khuzestan Province’s Vali Asr Commander, for his involvement in “gross violations of human rights against protesters during the November protests in Mahshahr”. It said units under his command killed as many as 148 Iranians.