UPDATE - EU reiterates call on Iran to cooperate with IAEA

ADDS MORE DETAILS OF PHONE CONVERSATION, BACKGROUND

By Selen Temizer and Syed Zafar Mehdi

ANKARA (AA) – The European Union has once again urged Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday.

Borrell made the appeal during a phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“I underlined again the EU's position on Iran's behavior: stop human rights violations, stop support to Russia's war of aggression, and stop unjustified detention of EU citizens,” Josep Borrell said on Twitter.

Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter that they discussed Iran-EU ties, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, Iran-IAEA cooperation and developments in Ukraine.

He added that he "emphasized" that Iran "relies upon its people, and this was proven once again on Feb. 11th this year," referring to the nationwide rallies to mark the 44th anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

Last November, Iran announced a decision to ramp up uranium enrichment at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant in response to a resolution passed by the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog.

At the time, Iran said it had begun enriching uranium to 60% purity at the facility and that two new centrifuge cascades, IR-2m and IR-4, were reviewed and operated at the Natanz nuclear facility in central Isfahan province.

Tensions between Tehran and the IAEA have heightened over the nuclear watchdog's probe into "uranium traces" found at three undeclared nuclear sites. Iran has dismissed the probe.

It has also led to a stalemate in indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, with on and off talks underway since April 2021.

Reports about Iran supplying drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war have also fueled tensions between Tehran and Washington, with American officials saying that a nuclear deal is no longer on the table.

Iran acknowledges that it supplied "a limited number of" drones to Moscow months before the war in Ukraine but rejects reports that its drones are being used in the war.

Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was considering a new package of sanctions against Russia and its allies, including Iran, over the Ukraine war.

Earlier this month, Borrell warned that if Iran takes "a further step in its military assistance to Russia,” the nuclear deal will be imperiled.

However, he reaffirmed the EU's commitment to continue efforts at ending the stalemate in the talks despite tensions between Tehran and other signatories to the deal.