Iran says deal with IAEA hinges on lack of hostile action, including sanctions snapback

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DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that Tehran would scrap an agreement to let the U.N. watchdog inspect its nuclear sites if Western powers reinstated U.N. sanctions.

A set of U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to be reimposed at 0000 GMT on Saturday after Britain, France and Germany accused Tehran of violating a 2015 deal with major powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.

The International Atomic Energy Agency had been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran and resume inspections of its nuclear facilities after Israel and the United States bombed the sites in June.

But in a post on Telegram, Araqchi said a deal signed in Egypt this month “will remain valid as long as no hostile action is taken against Iran, including the reinstatement of United Nations Security Council resolutions that have been annulled”.

He added: “Otherwise, the Islamic Republic of Iran will consider its practical commitments terminated.”

The Security Council is to vote on Friday on a resolution proposed by Russia and China to delay the reimposition of sanctions under the so-called “snapback mechanism” for six months, but diplomats said it was unlikely to pass.

The mechanism, enshrined in Security Council Resolution 2231, allows any party to the 2015 agreement with the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to unilaterally restore the U.N. sanctions that were suspended by the deal.

Tehran has long denounced the provision as a political weapon that undermines diplomacy.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Toby Chopra and Kevin Liffey)