IAEA: Without Tehran’s Commitment, There Will Be No Agreement

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files
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IAEA: Without Tehran’s Commitment, There Will Be No Agreement

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, stressed that without the commitment of Tehran and the cooperation of all parties, no agreement would be reached in the Vienna talks.

He added that the IAEA was intensifying its efforts to support reaching an agreement and to ensure its implementation, noting that talks were moving in the right direction despite the difficult challenges.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya channel on Saturday, Grossi said that reaching an agreement within days was complicated, but not impossible, adding that the next few days would clarify where the current efforts would lead.

The difficulties persist and exist, but the parties should work on solving them one by one, according to the IAEA chief.

Grossi pointed out that the agency was concerned about the presence of undeclared nuclear materials in Iranian sites. He called on Iran to cooperate and allow full access to the monitoring and surveillance equipment on Iranian nuclear facilities, stressing that without the commitment of the Iranian authorities and the cooperation of all parties, there would be no agreement.

The United States, as well as diplomats from key countries, including France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China, have repeatedly warned Tehran that time was running out, and that the next few weeks would be crucial in reviving the agreement that was abandoned in 2018 by the former US administration of Donald Trump.

However, the Iranian authorities are still insisting on some conditions that constitute a major obstacle to reaching a solution, including the request to provide guarantees that the US administration would not withdraw from any new agreement, as well as the lifting of all sanctions imposed on the country, especially those related to terrorism.

For his part, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Saturday that Tehran had the right to continue nuclear research and development, adding that this matter could not be restricted by any agreement.

Shamkhani wrote on his Twitter account: “Iran’s legal right to continue research and development and to maintain its peaceful nuclear capabilities and achievements, along with its security against supported evils, cannot be restricted by any agreement.”

He added: “Real, effective and verifiable economic benefit for Iran is a necessary condition for the formation of an agreement. The show of lifting sanctions is not considered constructive.”



International Criminal Court Refers Hungary to Its Oversight Body for Failing to Arrest Netanyahu 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shake hands after a press statement at the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. (AP) 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shake hands after a press statement at the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. (AP) 
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International Criminal Court Refers Hungary to Its Oversight Body for Failing to Arrest Netanyahu 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shake hands after a press statement at the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. (AP) 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shake hands after a press statement at the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. (AP) 

A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court reported Hungary to the court’s oversight organization for failing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Budapest in April, saying the move undercut the court's ability to bring suspects to justice.

The Israeli leader received a red carpet welcome from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a state visit, in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant. Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are accused of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

Israel is not a member of the court and staunchly rejects the charges.

In a filing released late Thursday, the three-judge panel wrote that “the obligation to cooperate was sufficiently clear to Hungary” and the failure to arrest Netanyahu “severely undermines the Court’s ability to carry out its mandate.”

The ICC has no police force and relies on countries around the world to execute arrest warrants.

The court's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties has limited powers to sanction Hungary. It will consider the next steps during its annual meeting in December.

The Hungarian leader, regarded by critics as an autocrat and the EU’s most intransigent spoiler in the bloc’s decision-making, has defended his decision to not arrest Netanyahu. During the visit, Orbán said his country’s commitment to the ICC was “ half-hearted ” and began the process to withdraw Hungary from the court.

Orbán signed the Rome Statute, the treaty which created the court, in 2001 during his first term as prime minister.

The court dismissed arguments from Hungary that Parliament never incorporated the court’s statute into Hungarian law, writing “it was Hungary’s responsibility to ensure that such legislation was in place.”

The decision comes as Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians is in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory.

Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid, and of intentionally targeting civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza.