Iran has accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of abandoning its technical and impartial role in favour of a politically driven agenda aligned with Washington, warning that the agency's biased conduct and failure to condemn US-Israeli aggression against Iranian nuclear facilities have severely undermined its credibility.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei strongly criticized a recent report by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, describing the agency's approach as one-sided and influenced by US political pressure.

Baqaei pointed to what he described as a structural deficiency in the IAEA's reporting practices, questioning why the agency had repeatedly failed to address its shortcomings. He suggested that the persistence of these deficiencies could not be dismissed as accidental.

He said the agency's continued adherence to its previous course, despite the consequences of US and Israeli military aggression against Iran, had further damaged its international standing and would make the IAEA accountable for its conduct.

"Creating pretexts to intensify the atmosphere surrounding Iran's nuclear program has served no purpose," Baqaei said.

The Iranian spokesman noted that Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, had also opposed the approach reflected in the report, exposing divisions within the international body over the handling of Iran's nuclear file.

Baqaei said Grossi's report had acknowledged that military attacks against Iran had created an unprecedented situation. However, he stressed that the agency should have gone further by explicitly identifying US and Israeli aggression as the principal cause of the disruption to nuclear inspections.

"Unfortunately, following these attacks, the IAEA has ignored this bare fact," he said.

He emphasized that Iran could not expect any improvement in its relations with the agency while it continued to disregard the security consequences of the attacks and maintain what Tehran considers a politically motivated approach.

Addressing Iran's obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Baqaei said any decision concerning the treaty would be made by the country's competent institutions.

"As long as we remain a member of the NPT, we are committed to its obligations," he stated.

Responding to the IAEA's calls for its inspectors to return to Iran, Baqaei said the agency must first acknowledge the circumstances that disrupted its inspection activities rather than make demands without addressing the underlying security concerns.

He noted that the IAEA itself had acknowledged that US and Israeli aggression had disrupted inspectors' access to Iranian nuclear facilities.

"The IAEA must decide whether it wants to be a technical body or remain under the influence of certain countries," he said.

Baqaei stressed that the disruption of the agency's activities in Iran resulted from the US and Israeli military attacks, as well as the IAEA's failure to respond appropriately to the aggression against facilities operating under international safeguards.

Meanwhile, Iran's Mission to the UN Office in Vienna recently condemned resolutions adopted by the IAEA Board of Governors against Tehran, describing them as legally and technically flawed and politically motivated.

In a statement published on its X account, the mission said the resolutions had been adopted through an abuse of procedure, arguing that normal safeguards activities could not resume under the extraordinary security conditions created by attacks on Iran's safeguarded nuclear facilities.

It stressed that the military strikes had disrupted inspections and forced the agency to withdraw its inspectors, making the restoration of normal inspection activities dependent on addressing Iran's legitimate security concerns.

The Iranian mission also pointed to Grossi's acknowledgment that the attacks had created unprecedented circumstances and disrupted inspections, arguing that the agency must take full account of these realities rather than place additional pressure on Tehran. (ILKHA)