BRUSSELS: The EU has told Iran to reconsider its decision to withdraw accreditation from several inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had warned earlier that the “disproportionate and unprecedented” move would seriously hamper its work.
Iranian media and a Western diplomat said the decision concerned eight inspectors, all from France and Germany.
Brussels, which acts as coordinator for the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers known as the JCPOA, said it was “highly concerned” by the development.
“Particularly worrying is the direct and severe impact of this decision on the agency’s ability to conduct its verification activities, which includes the monitoring of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA,” a spokesman said.
“The EU urges Iran to reconsider its decision without delay.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the move was in retaliation for “political abuses” by the US, France, Germany and Britain.
In 2015, major world powers reached the accord with Iran under which Tehran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.
But that started to unravel in 2018 when Donald Trump, the US president at the time, withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions.
Tehran in turn stepped up its nuclear program, while continuing to deny that it harbors ambitions of developing nuclear weapons capability.
Efforts to revive the deal have been fruitless so far.
Britain, France and Germany, European signatories to the deal, announced last week that they would not lift sanctions on Iran next month as originally foreseen.
The EU reaction came as Iranian media reported that gunmen opened fire on a group of paramilitary forces, killing one of them and wounding another three.
Local media did not give a motive for Saturday’s attack in southern Iran, which occurred on the anniversary of the death while in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and the outbreak of nationwide protests.
It was unclear if the attack was linked to the anniversary.
The IRNA news agency said the attack targeting members of the paramilitary Basij occurred late on Saturday in the town of Nourabad, some 630km south of the capital, Tehran.
In a separate incident, a man was shot and wounded by security forces near the city of Saqqez, in Iran’s western Kurdish region. IRNA said he was shot after entering an area under military restrictions.
The Kurdish rights group Hengaw had earlier reported that he was in critical condition, while the semi-official Fars news agency said he was stable.
The anniversary saw a heavy deployment of Iranian security forces in Tehran as well as Kurdish areas, where rights groups said there was a general strike.
Amini, who was from the Kurdish region, died Sept. 16, 2022, after being detained in Tehran, apparently for violating the country’s dress code.
