Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country will “never surrender” amid “excessive demands” and sanctions from the West. “The West cannot stop us. They hit us in Natanz, but they are unaware that it is humans who built and will rebuild Natanz,” Pezeshkian stated in televised remarks. “Through the ‘snapback,’ they block the road, but it is the brains and the thoughts that open or build the road,” he added. The comments come after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) rejected a resolution to extend Iran sanctions relief, effectively approving the reimposition of “snapback” sanctions on the country on September 28.
Iran to suspend cooperation with IAEA
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said on Saturday that the country will suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in response to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) rejecting a resolution to permanently lift sanctions against Tehran. “Despite the [Iranian] Foreign Ministry’s cooperation with the Agency and the proposals presented to settle the [nuclear] issue, the actions of European countries have effectively suspended the path of cooperation with the Agency,” the SNSC, which is tasked with overseeing cooperation with the IAEA, stated.The sanctions are set to come into effect on September 28 after the three European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from 2015 activated the so-called “snapback” mechanism and the UNSC failed to support extending the sanctions relief.