TEHRAN – Iranians are reacting strongly to a draft anti-Iran resolution expected to be circulated at this week’s meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors.

In a post on the X platform, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi highlighted the need to comply with international law avoid any arbitrary moves.  

“Today I met with Mr. George Katrougalos, the UN Independent Expert on promoting a democratic and equitable international order, who is in Iran to attend the ‘International Law Under Assault: Aggression and Self-Defense’ conference,” wrote Gharibabadi.

“Our discussion focused on how unilateral and arbitrary actions—such as aggression and crimes committed by the USA and Israeli regime—erode international law and destabilize the global system, pushing the world further from justice, equality, and peace,” he explained.

“I stressed the importance of Mr. Katrougalos’ mandate and noted that his distinguished diplomatic and academic background positions him to play a vital role in strengthening international law,” he added.

Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi also lambasted IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi for capitulating under Western pressure.

“The solution to Grossi’s wickedness is warning anymore, by Europe and the U.S. should know that whatever they were seeking during the war and in New York, they will not attain in the Vienna meeting, either. As for the law suspending [Tehran’s] cooperation [with the IAEA], Iran will not remain silent again,” he wrote. 

The United States and the European Troika — France, Britain, and Germany — are, according to diplomatic sources, preparing a new resolution against Iran to be submitted at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, scheduled for 19 – 21 November. This disclosure follows Western media citations of a confidential report by Grossi, who is attempting to stoke alarm over Iran’s nuclear program by raising fear about the whereabouts of the country’s enriched uranium.

Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA Reza Najafi has also emphasized that renewed Western pressure will have no impact on the country’s implementation of nuclear safeguards.

On Saturday, Najafi criticized the United States and the European Troika for preparing a politically motivated resolution targeting Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA. He accused Washington and the E3 of attempting to manipulate international mechanisms to advance “unreasonable and coercive” demands on the Iranian nation.

“Pressuring IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to base reports on expired UN Security Council resolutions is unlawful, unjustified, and counterproductive,” Najafi said. 

“Such actions not only complicate diplomatic efforts but also undermine negotiations. Importantly, they will not alter Iran’s compliance with its safeguards obligations, which have been lawfully implemented under the supervision of IAEA inspectors,” he explained.

The current tensions can be traced to a dramatic escalation in June. 

On June 13, 2025, the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked attack on Iranian territory, triggering a 12-day war that claimed the lives of well over 1,000 Iranians, including military commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians. The United States also got involved in the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites. The stated justification for the aggression was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a claim for which neither Israel nor the U.S. provided any evidence.

Iranian officials noted that the Israeli strikes occurred just hours after the IAEA Board adopted a politically motivated resolution, and that the attacks struck nuclear facilities fully monitored under the IAEA safeguards agreement. Last month, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi was forced to acknowledge that the agency had never found evidence that Iran intended to build nuclear weapons.

Following the June attacks, Iran’s parliament unanimously voted on June 25 to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA. Lawmakers stressed that the Board’s June 12 directive and related resolutions had created conditions for the Israeli aggression. Since then, Tehran has consistently emphasized that its nuclear program remains peaceful and fully monitored by the IAEA, rejecting Western attempts to politicize the agency’s mandate.

Tehran signed a new cooperation agreement with the IAEA in September, but that framework was abandoned after the E3 — France, Britain and Germany — moved to reinstate a mechanism to reimpose the pre?JCPOA UN sanctions on Iran.

Iran’s enriched uranium now lies buried under the rubble of the nuclear sites struck by Israel and the U.S., according to previous remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Tehran had offered to transfer its most highly enriched uranium to Western authorities in exchange for the termination of UN sanctions. Europe welcomed the proposal, but the United States opted to keep up pressure on Iran, according to reporting first published by the Tehran Times.