Iran14 September, 20263 min read
U.S. Bars Iran’s Mohammad Eslami From Vienna IAEA General Conference
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Austria denied entry to Mohammad Eslami, Iran's AEOI chief, for the IAEA conference. The United States opposed an exemption from snapback sanctions, blocking his attendance.
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Eslami barred from Vienna
Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami was barred from entering Austria to attend the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference in Vienna, with Iranian state television saying he and his delegation “took a regular flight to Vienna on Saturday, but were stopped on the way because of obstacles imposed by the United States,” before returning to Tehran.
“He is a person on the sanctions list, and we do not want people on sanctions lists to circumvent their sanctions.”
Iran announced it summoned Austria’s chargé d’affaires after Vienna refused to allow Eslami to participate, and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the refusal was “a completely unjustified decision.”
The U.S. position, as described by the sources, was that Washington rejected Eslami’s request for a sanctions waiver to obtain a visa to enter Austria, with U.S. Energy Secretary Christopher P. (Chris) Wray saying, “He is a person on the sanctions list, and we do not want people on sanctions lists to circumvent their sanctions.”
The dispute unfolded as the IAEA General Conference began in Vienna, with The General Conference of the IAEA running until September 18 and the session involving “181 member states of the IAEA.”
Tehran, Vienna trade blame
At a press conference in Tehran, Ismail Bagayi said the incident occurred under “American pressure” but that it “does not absolve the Austrian government of responsibility,” as Iran framed the visa refusal as a politicized act. Austria, through its ambassador Christian Ebenbauer, said it submitted a request to the UN Security Council sanctions committee to exempt Eslami from the travel ban, but that the request was refused, and “as a result, Austria had to prevent one member of the Iranian delegation from entering its territory.”
Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, argued that banning Eslami was “not an administrative error, but a violation of the principle of sovereign equality,” and said it “undermines the legitimacy of the conference’s proceedings itself.” The same sources also tied the Vienna dispute to broader regional diplomacy, with Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Bagayi saying that “relying on the Yemen issue as a reason to delay the regional meeting on the routes of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is a weak pretext.”
Regional escalation and stakes
Beyond the Vienna visa fight, the sources describe rising regional pressure around the Strait of Hormuz and oil transit, including an updated list of 77 ships “violating Iranian protocols for the Strait of Hormuz,” with future restrictions including “fines, detention, or seizure.” The same reporting links the diplomatic standoff to U.S.-Iran nuclear threats, with Al-Wasat describing U.S. pressure to prevent Iran from attending an IAEA meeting while Tehran said Riyadh requested postponing a Hormuz Strait meeting in Oman.
In parallel, BRICS called for “maximum restraint” and condemned attacks on civilian infrastructure and “peaceful nuclear facilities that are covered by full safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” urging compliance with nuclear safeguards and safety and security standards. Singapore’s Grace Fu, speaking at the IAEA General Conference, said the country remains “gravely concerned” over nuclear safety and security amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, warning that “Any attack on nuclear power plants will pose significant and undeniable risks to nuclear safety,” while also noting “unresolved issues surrounding Iran’s compliance” with safeguards obligations.