Iran protests after nuclear chief denied entry to Vienna for IAEA conference

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has issued a formal note of protest to Austria after the country’s nuclear chief was denied entry to Vienna to attend the annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to Iranian media on Tuesday. The ministry sent an official letter to Austria protesting the decision not to issue the required entry authorization for Mohammad Eslami, vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the ISNA news agency reported. Eslami and his delegation had departed for Vienna on a regular flight Saturday but were stopped at Istanbul Airport because he had not received authorization to enter Vienna. He returned to Tehran later the same day. According to ISNA, the authorization was blocked due to “obstruction” by the US and another country in the region, without identifying the latter. The agency said the denial was believed to be linked to the reactivation of the UN “snapback” sanctions mechanism under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Two AEOI deputies, Behrouz Kamalvandi and Mohammad Reza Kardani, who were not included on the UN sanctions list, were able to travel to Vienna. Senior Iranian political and nuclear officials had received authorization to attend meetings at the IAEA headquarters in previous years, with Eslami himself attending the agency’s annual conference last year. ​​​​​​​Due to his absence, Iran’s address to the conference was postponed until Tuesday afternoon.