TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that any move of the U.S. to exert pressure on the International Atomic Energy Agency is “violation of the 2015 nuclear deal and independence of the IAEA”.

“We are sure that the IAEA is aware of regulations on its behavior as an international body and will not let its independence and status be undermined by the U.S. ambassador’s visit given terms of the JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] and mechanisms of monitoring Iran’s compliance to the deal,” he told ISNA in an interview published on Friday.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley traveled to Vienna on Wednesday to meet with officials of the IAEA and discuss the nuclear deal.

Her trip was part of an initiative by the Trump administration to review the JCPOA.

Iran’s permanent mission to the IAEA issued a statement on Thursday saying the objectives and the results of Haley’s trip to Vienna “contradict” the JCPOA and Resolution 2231.

The statement said that Iran is abiding by its duties and responsibilities in dealing with the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, IAEA Safeguard Agreements, JCPOA as well as additional protocol and under no circumstances let misuse of these rules and regulations for ill-wishing political means of a specific country and reserve the rights to remind all parties to remain committed to their pledges with regards to JCPOA.

Iran expects the IAEA head and its inspectors to perform their tasks regarding the JCPOA with professionalism and honesty, the statement said.

Zarif on Wednesday wrote similar letters to IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano and European foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warning that Haley’s visit is meant to violate the nuclear agreement.

“This visit with its announced purpose, is not in conformity with several provisions of the JCPOA and the UNSC Resolution 2231 which deal with the role of the Agency and the necessity of upholding its independence and protecting the sensitive information that comes to its knowledge,” Fars news agency quoted him as saying in his letters.

“Regrettably, this visit, with the stated purpose to ‘press the Agency’, is widely perceived by the international community as a manifest and blatant attempt by a Permanent Member of the Security Council -- openly hostile to the JCPOA and determined to undermine and destroy it -- to put pressure on the Agency and adversely affect the professional and impartial nature of the work of the IAEA in carrying out the job entrusted to it by the UNSC Resolution 2231 and the resolutions of the Board of Governors, thereby undermining the independence and credibility of the work of the Agency.”

Iran, the European Union, Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - finalized the text of the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015. The deal went into effect on January 16, 2016.

On July 20, 2015, the UN Security Council turned the JCPOA into international law by endorsing a resolution.

NA