Iran not allowed to cut IAEA ties over snapback sanctions, Grossi says

If finalized, the move would represent a strong signal of Russian support for the Islamic Republic's nuclear program amid growing military and diplomatic pressure.

Eslami, who is also a vice president in Iran, told state media that four of the reactors would be located at the Bushehr site in southern Iran, where the country’s only operating nuclear power plant is situated.

“The necessary negotiations and studies for the implementation of the second phase of this agreement have been completed, the land for the plants has been selected, prepared and equipped, and with the agreement that will be signed this week we will enter the operational stage,” Eslami said.

He added that site visits had already taken place and contractual talks concluded.

Eslami, who traveled to Moscow to meet officials and speak at Russia’s Nuclear Energy Week, said the project is part of Tehran’s long-term plan to expand nuclear capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2040.

Iran currently generates about 1 GW from its single Bushehr reactor, which was also built by Russia, and has faced recurring electricity shortages during peak demand.

Eslami's remarks comes as Britain, France and Germany (E3) push to reinstate UN sanctions, accusing Iran of violating a 2015 nuclear deal.

The 15-member UN Security Council on Friday rejected a draft resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran. Russia, China and two others voted to do so.

Asked about the outlook for cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Eslami said: “We have always emphasized that these three European countries and the Zionist influence network should no longer damage the credibility of the United Nations and international organizations, and should allow these organizations to perform their duties fairly and professionally within the framework of regulations.”

The parades, traditionally held during Defense Week beginning on September 22, come this year in the aftermath of 12-day war with Israel in June that dealt the Islamic Republic one of its biggest ever military blows.

“Special programs this year will differ from previous years,” news outlet Tabnak cited Major General Soleiman Kamyabi, Deputy Chief of Human Resources for the General Staff of the Armed Forces, as saying.

Kamyabi said that honoring the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, the eight-year Iran-Iraq War and “the 12-day imposed war” remains central to the commemorations.

Kurdistan province was the first to announce the cancellation of its parade. “No military parade will be held in Kurdistan this year,” Tasnim News quoted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Brigadier General Jamshid Rezaei as saying.

Instead, the IRGC will hold ceremonies to honor veterans, whom Rezaei credited for providing Iran’s “current security and stability.”

In Hamedan province in Western Iran, the IRGC made the same announcement, citing “emerging threats” and a desire to avoid large gatherings.

“Due to emerging threats, we will refrain from large gatherings and focus on defense readiness,” Khabar Online quoted Hossein Zare Kamali, the IRGC commander in Hamedan, as saying.

The cancellations highlight Iran’s military jitters amid heightened regional tensions, as Israeli military and civilian leaders have repeatedly said their armed quarrel with Iran may not be over.

During the June conflict, Israeli strikes killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israelis.

Abbas Araghchi, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, said he plans to meet the UN nuclear watchdog later today and will also hold meetings with three European counterparts to discuss the looming reimposition of UN sanctions they triggered last month.

“At different times, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been tested, and they know we do not respond to the language of pressure and threats," Araghchi was quoted by official media as saying. "Rather, we respond in the language of respect and dignity. If there is a solution, it is only a diplomatic one.”

Araghchi said consultations with France, Germany and the United Kingdom are ongoing, and noted that the United States is also involved “directly or indirectly,” without elaborating.

Two months of fruitless Iran-US talks over Tehran's disputed nuclear program culminated in a surprise Israeli military campaign against Iran in June which was capped off by US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.

Following the attacks, Tehran suspended its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. How to resume diplomacy and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections now remains a bone of contention between Iran and the West.

“We have emphasized our readiness for a diplomatic solution on the snapback mechanism, but one that secures Iran’s interests and addresses our security concerns,” Araghchi said. He warned Iran would take "the measures it must” if diplomacy fails.

UN sanctions on Iran, triggered through the so-called snapback mechanism by three European countries on August 28, are set to resume on September 28 after the UN Security Council rejected a resolution to keep the sanctions lifted in a 4–9 vote on September 19.

The sanctions would include an arms embargo, asset freezes and nuclear restrictions.

'Difficult juncture'

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, also in New York, told AFP the current situation with Iran is at a “difficult juncture.”

“It’s obviously quite a difficult juncture. It’s a very difficult situation we are facing right now,” Grossi said, adding that a series of talks are scheduled while all parties are gathered at the UN.

Iran and the IAEA signed a technical agreement in Cairo on September 9, mediated by Egypt, to make progress toward resuming nuclear inspections halted in June.

Tehran has warned that the deal will be void if new attacks or sanctions occur, though it views the agreement as a step toward de-escalation.

Between April and August 2025, exports dropped by 40%, continuing a downward trend that began in 2024, according to financial intelligence platform Zawya.

“Iran’s exports to Iraq in the first five months of this year decreased by 18% compared to the same period last year, with a significant portion of the decline due to gas exports,” Abdulamir Rabihavi, Director General of the West Asia Office at Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, said on September 15.

“In the first five months of last year, we exported around $1.6 billion worth of gas to Iraq, but this has fallen to $950 million this year," he was quoted as saying by Iran's Etemad newspaper.

Iraq’s imports have been constrained by stepped-up United States sanctions. In March 2025, the Trump administration revoked a waiver that allowed payments for Iranian electricity imports as a long-standing carve out to broad US sanctions on Tehran.

Baghdad seeks to diversify supplies by launching a new gas import line from Turkmenistan. However, because the pipeline runs through Iran, it remains subject to US sanctions, and Washington has refused to grant Iraq a waiver.

“The entry of new competitors and possible shifts in Iraq’s market require constant monitoring and preparedness by economic actors,” Etemad newspaper quoted Yahya Al-Ishaq, President of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, as saying.

Hamid Hosseini, a member of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, noted: “One of Iraq’s main policies in recent years has been to support domestic production. The government regularly raises import tariffs, sometimes up to 36%.”

Despite holding vast natural gas reserves, Iraq lacks the infrastructure to fully utilize them and continues to depend on imports.

The country does not have enough refineries to process associated gas from its oil fields and still flares a large portion of it.

The US maximum pressure campaign on Iran, reinstated by President Trump in February 2025 via a National Security Presidential Memorandum, aims to deny Tehran nuclear weapon paths and counter its regional influence through sweeping sanctions on its energy sector, including oil exports targeted at zero.

The policy has blocked waivers for third-country energy deals involving Iran, directly curtailing Tehran's gas and electricity flows to Iraq and exacerbating domestic shortages.

That pressure is set to intensify with the automatic return of UN sanctions on September 28, unless a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough materializes.

Amid decades of bitter discord following the 1979 Iranian Reovlution, no US President has ever met his Iranian counterpart. US President Barack Obama spoke with President Hassan Rouhani by phone while the latter was in New York in 2013.

Reformists argue the question is not whether Pezeshkian should meet Trump, but whether he can secure Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s mandate to resume the pursuit of a nuclear deal. Without it, they say, the trip risks becoming another empty exercise.

“If the trip is going to be like last year or like those of past presidents, it is better not to go,” former Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi told the moderate outlet Jamaran.

“If they want real change, he must first go to the Leader and other decision-makers and secure the necessary powers. Then he can meet senior American, European and regional officials.”

‘Courage required’

The reformist daily Sazandegi ran the headline “A Speech Is Not Enough,” urging Pezeshkian to act decisively.

Prominent centrist figure Hossein Marashi argued in an editorial that only “courageous decisions” could help avoid renewed sanctions.

Other moderates, including Amir Eghtenaei and Mohammad Atrianfar, pressed for clarity from Khamenei before departure, warning that without it the trip would yield “only repetitive words in routine meetings.”

Reformist author Abbas Abdi went further In Tehran’s other moderate daily, Etemad: unless Pezeshkian resolves the matter at home, he argued, the UN visit will be “pure loss.”

“When you return,” Abdi warned, “we should know whether the person who went to the UN was Pezeshkian representing the Iranian nation, or merely a shadow of his rivals wearing his clothes.”

‘Romantic illusion’

The "rivals" have of course been hard at work to head off any grand gestures in New Yorkk.

Kayhan, funded by the Supreme Leader’s office, derided the proposal as a “childish prescription” that would send a message of weakness.

In a biting editorial, it accused reformists of being so servile to the United States they would “probably even kiss Trump’s seat if asked.”

Javan, the IRGC-linked daily, called the idea “banana peels under Pezeshkian’s feet,” reminding readers that Trump himself tore up the 2015 nuclear deal.

Even the more measured Farhikhtegan said Washington has shown “no willingness to talk to Iran,” branding reformist hopes “romantic illusions.”

The past speaks

Analyst Amirali Abolfath told the moderate daily Ham-Mihan that even if Pezeshkian and Trump met, “just as Trump’s meetings with Putin or his letters to Kim Jong-un did not change US policy, this will not either.”

Others warned of humiliation.

President Trump could treat Pezeshkian as he did Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, hardline journalist Pouyan Hosseinpour warned, “reducing the encounter to a moment of spectacle.”

This hardline consensus mirrors earlier UNGA seasons, when moderate presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani likewise floated engagement but bowed to resistance at home.

The likely outcome is the same: no meeting, and a course set for confrontation as snapback sanctions take hold.