News - Middle East: Iran has dismissed Germany’s criticism over its nuclear program and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), slamming Berlin for backing unlawful attacks on its nuclear sites and undermining diplomatic efforts.

In a post on X on Thursday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran remains committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its Safeguards Agreement but that future cooperation with the IAEA would be directed by the Supreme National Security Council for "safety and security reasons."

The move follows the recent unprovoked aggression on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israel and the United States, which prompted Tehran to suspend cooperation with the IAEA following a vote by parliament.

The German Foreign Office on Wednesday said Iran’s suspension of direct cooperation with the IAEA “sends a devastating message” and removes crucial international oversight necessary for a diplomatic solution, calling on Tehran to reverse the decision.

Araghchi dismissed the statements as “fake news” and insisted Iran remains committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its Safeguards Agreement.

“In accordance with the new legislation by Majlis [parliament], sparked by the unlawful attacks against our nuclear facilities by Israel and the US, our cooperation with the IAEA will be channeled through Iran's Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons,” he wrote.

Araghchi also spelled out what truly "sends a devastating message" to Iranians and destroys "a diplomatic solution".  

The Iranian foreign minister lashed out at “Germany's explicit support for Israel's unlawful attack on Iran, including safeguarded nuclear sites, as ‘dirty work’ carried out on behalf of the West”.

His reference was to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s endorsement of Israel’s airstrikes on Iran in an interview with the ZDF broadcaster that the attacks were “the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us”.

“Germany also shamefully supported the unlawful US attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, which violated international law, the NPT, and the UN Charter,” Araghchi wrote.

“The explicit German support for the bombing of Iran has obliterated the notion that the German regime harbors anything but malice towards Iranians.”

Araghchi also said, “Germany’s repudiation of its commitments under the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] by demanding zero uranium enrichment is a blatant attempt to undermine diplomacy.”

Germany, along with France and the United Kingdom, are among the signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium. 

Araghchi recalled Germany’s past during the 1980-88 Iraqi war under former dictator Saddam Hussein on the Islamic Republic, when it supplied materials later used in chemical weapons attacks against Iran.

“Iranians were already put off by Germany's Nazi-style backing of Genocide in Gaza, and its support for Saddam’s war on Iran by providing materials for chemical weapons,” he said.

Source: Press TV