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UN nuclear watchdog says new deal with Iran covers ‘all facilities’

UN nuclear watchdog says new deal with Iran covers ‘all facilities’
Iran agreed a deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday, after it suspended cooperation following the war with Israel in June. (FILE/AFP)
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Updated 10 September 2025

UN nuclear watchdog says new deal with Iran covers ‘all facilities’

UN nuclear watchdog says new deal with Iran covers ‘all facilities’
  • Iran’s new cooperation framework with the UN nuclear watchdog includes “all facilities and installations in Iran,” agency head Rafael Grossi said Wednesday

VIENNA: Iran’s new cooperation framework with the UN nuclear watchdog includes “all facilities and installations in Iran,” agency head Rafael Grossi said Wednesday.
Iran agreed a deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday, after it suspended cooperation following the war with Israel in June.
The 12-day war saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which the IAEA has not been able to access since.
Grossi said the agreed document “provides for a clear understanding of the procedures for inspections.”
It “includes all facilities and installations in Iran, and it also contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked facilities, including the nuclear material present at those,” Grossi told the Vienna-based agency’s Board of Governors meeting.
Tehran’s suspension of cooperation saw the agency’s inspectors leave Iran, before a team briefly returned last month to oversee the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Access to nuclear sites now requires the approval of the Supreme National Security Council, and the most recent inspection was not granted access to other key sites, including Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the June strikes.
“Iran and the agency will now resume cooperation in a respectful and comprehensive way,” Grossi said, adding the “practical steps... need to be implemented now.”
“There may be difficulties and issues to be resolved for sure, but we now know what we have to do,” he added.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that Iran would end cooperation with the agency “in the event of any hostile action against Iran.”
“I emphasize that in the event of any hostile action against Iran, including the reinstatement of lifted UN Security Council resolutions, Iran will consider these practical steps ended,” he said.
In August, Britain, France and Germany initiated steps to reimpose UN sanctions after weeks of warnings, citing Iran’s continued non-compliance with its commitments under a 2015 nuclear agreement.
Iran has condemned the move as “illegal” and warned that it could lead to the exclusion of the European powers from any future negotiations.
While Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, Western countries accuse the government of seeking an atomic weapon — a claim Tehran has systematically denied.


Palestinian sues EU after dismissal from Gaza border role

Palestinian sues EU after dismissal from Gaza border role
Updated 10 November 2025

Palestinian sues EU after dismissal from Gaza border role

Palestinian sues EU after dismissal from Gaza border role
  • European employees ‘transferred’ rather than sacked when Rafah offices closed 
  • Lawyer: This is tantamount to ‘discrimination on the basis of his nationality’

LONDON: The EU is being sued by a Palestinian who lost his job in Gaza after the outbreak of the war.

Mohammed Baraka worked in Rafah at the EU border assistance mission, where he had been employed since 2006.

He was evacuated to Cairo after the outbreak of the conflict in October 2023, but was dismissed this year after the EU decided to close its Rafah offices permanently.

Baraka is taking the bloc to court in Belgium on the grounds that European EUBam employees from Rafah “were transferred elsewhere” rather than dismissed.

His lawyer Selma Benkhelifa said this is tantamount to “discrimination on the basis of his nationality.”

In a submission to the court, Benkhelifa said Baraka “does not criticise the decision to close the Rafah office” as “the security situation justifies this.”

However, Baraka said he was employed under Belgian law and was handed rolling one-year contracts, which breaches Belgian legislation that states rolling roles must be made permanent after three consecutive years. He added that he is bringing the case to address the “injustice” he suffered as a result.

The lawsuit states: “A provision that allows an employer to renew fixed-term contracts is contrary to Belgian and European public policy.”

It adds: “It is shocking to note that a European institution is circumventing public policy provisions intended to protect workers. The applicant’s contract must be reclassified as a permanent contract.”

Baraka said: “During the first days of the war in Gaza, I was, like all other residents of Gaza, facing an unknown and frightening fate.

“When I was offered evacuation by the EU to a safe place, as an EU employee who had served for 20 years, I accepted the offer.

“But had I known that my fate would be dismissal from my job and being left in a place with no residence or basic human rights, I would have never agreed to it. None of this was explained to me beforehand.”