Iran Protests After Nuclear Chief Denied Entry to Vienna for IAEA Conference

TEHRAN, Sep 15:  Iran’s Foreign Ministry has formally protested 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), Iranian media reported Tuesday.

The ministry sent an official letter to Austria protesting the decision not to issue the required entry authorization to Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the ISNA news agency reported.

Eslami and his delegation left Tehran for Vienna on a regular flight Saturday but were stopped at Istanbul Airport because he had not received authorization to enter Austria. He later returned to Tehran the same day.

According to ISNA, the authorization was blocked following “obstruction” by the United States and another country in the region, which the agency did not identify.

ISNA 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, were able to travel to Vienna because they were not included on the UN sanctions list.

Iranian political and nuclear officials have received authorization to attend IAEA meetings in Vienna in previous years. Eslami himself attended the agency’s annual conference last year.

Following Eslami’s absence, Iran’s address to the conference was postponed until Tuesday afternoon.