Iran’s president has enacted a law to suspend cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday, in a move that will shut out international inspectors from overseeing the country’s contested nuclear program.
The new law will further strain relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which were already at a low point since the start of the 12-day war with Israel and the United States.
Experts have warned that Iran could start to secretly work on building a nuclear weapon after its facilities were battered by the Israeli and U.S. strikes. But the move to cut ties with the I.A.E.A. could also be a tactic to gain leverage in new negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of its nuclear program.
Iran has said its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. The I.A.E.A. has said that it had no evidence that Iran was building a bomb, but that the country was stockpiling 400 kilograms, or 882 pounds, of highly enriched uranium, which could enable the government to build 10 bombs.
It is unclear how badly Iran’s nuclear program was damaged by the U.S. and Israeli strikes. President Trump has insisted it was “obliterated” while Rafael Grossi, the I.A.E.A. director general, has said that Iran could begin enriching uranium again in a “matter of months.”
One of the I.A.E.A.’s main purposes is to monitor the nuclear activity of countries that have signed on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to try to prevent the building of nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the treaty. Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never confirmed it, is not.
The I.A.E.A. said it was aware of the reports that Iran is suspending its cooperation and is waiting for further official information.
Iran’s hawkish parliament passed the new law last week. But it had not been clear whether the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who is considered a political moderate, would put the law into effect or try to block it.
Within government circles in Iran, there has been widespread outrage after the I.A.E.A. issued a declaration last month that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. The agency released its findings just a day before Israel launched its June 13 attack. Iranian officials argue the censure gave Israel political cover for its strikes.
Iranian officials have criticized Mr. Grossi for saying that there was no evidence of a systematic effort to build nuclear weapons only after Israel began its strikes.
Lawmakers have stipulated two conditions for resuming cooperation with the I.A.E.A., according to Iranian state media. The first is that the safety of its nuclear program and scientists is secured. The second is that what it considers its right to enrich uranium, which it says is guaranteed under international law, is acknowledged.
Whether those conditions have been met would be decided by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which shapes the country’s security and foreign policy.
During the war, Iranian lawmakers also threatened to pass a law that would withdraw Iran from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The agreement requires transparency over its nuclear program, and a commitment to not build a nuclear bomb. Iranian officials appear to be putting the option of withdrawal aside for now, while not definitively removing the threat, by focusing pressure on the nuclear watchdog.
Mr. Trump has said that negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program could resume as soon as this week, but Iran’s foreign minister said they could only start if the United States guaranteed that it would not attack the country during diplomatic talks. “In order for us to decide to re-engage, we will have to first ensure that America will not revert back to targeting us in a military attack during the negotiations,” the minister, Abbas Araghchi, told CBS News.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, called on Germany, France and Britain to reinstate all sanctions against Iran in response to the new law.
“This is a complete renunciation of all its international nuclear obligations and commitments,” he wrote in a statement on social media. “The international community must act decisively now and utilize all means at its disposal to stop Iranian nuclear ambitions.”
Under its agreement with Iran, the I.A.E.A. is supposed to inspect the nuclear facilities that Iran has publicly declared, including those at Natanz and Fordo, which the United States bombed. Israeli officials say there may be other, secret nuclear sites that Iran has not disclosed to the agency.
Matthew Mpoke Bigg contributed reporting.
