US blocks Iran nuclear chief from attending key Vienna conference
Iran accuses US of pressuring Austria to revoke visa for Mohammad Eslami, calling it a violation of member state rights.
The United States has barred Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, from attending this week’s annual General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at its headquarters in Vienna, after the United Nations Security Council rejected any waiver of “snapback” sanctions.
Eslami and his accompanying delegation were forced to cancel their trip to the five-day conference after Austria revoked his visa, Iranian state media said.
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization is subject to a UN Security Council travel ban under the pre-2015 multilateral “snapback” framework, which was reinstated last year by European signatories. It mandates that member states prevent the entry or transit of designated Iranian officials who are linked to the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Last year, France, Germany and the United Kingdom (the E3) triggered the snapback mechanism of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to automatically recover UN sanctions that had been temporarily suspended under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, when the JCPOA took effect in 2015. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord three years later.