Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iranian “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened the head of the International Atomic Nuclear Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, this weekend, vowing to “settle accounts” with him following the end of the current conflict.
“Once the war is over, we will settle accounts with Grossi,” Larijani wrote in Farsi on his official Twitter account on Saturday.
Grossi, an Argentine career diplomat, has led the IAEA since December 2019 and oversaw inspections on Iran’s nuclear site in the past. The international organization has repeatedly warned throughout the year that the rogue Islamic regime had accelerated its enrichment of uranium and on July 12 declared Iran in breach of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The recent public threats issued by Larijani against Grossi come after both Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites and days after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Grossi of “betraying” the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and turning the IAEA into a “partner to the unjust war of aggression against Iran.”
“You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You’ve made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression; You turned IAEA into a tool of convenience for non-NPT members to deprive NPT members of their basic right under Article 4. Any clear conscience?” Baghaei wrote on social media on Thursday.
Grossi reportedly told CNN last week that the IAEA’s reports on Iran’s nuclear program are not directly related to Israel’s decision to launch a strikes against Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure.
“A report on nuclear verification in Iran can hardly be the basis for military action,” Grossi reportedly said. “Military action, whoever it comes from, is a political decision that has nothing to do with what we say.”
Grossi, speaking to Argentina’s Radio Mitre last week, detailed that Iran possesses enough material to manufacture anywhere between six to eight nuclear bombs, but stressed that this does not mean that Iran currently possesses a complete nuclear weapon.
“They already have it [the material], they already have it. That is to say, they have not accumulated 90 percent, but if they want to do so, it is a step further, let’s say,” Grossi explained.
The threats against Grossi, an Argentine national, are notable as Argentina was the victim of two terrorist attacks in the 1990s committed by Iran through its proxy, the Shiite jihadist organization Hezbollah.
In 1992, Iran, through Hezbollah, carried out a suicide bombing against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 and leaving over 240 injured. In 1994, Hezbollah carried out an even deadlier bombing attack against the headquarters of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), killing 85 dead and leaving hundreds injured.
The 1994 AMIA bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks. After 30 years’ worth of convoluted and cumbersome judicial proceedings, Argentine Federal Courts finally ruled in April 2024 to declare Iran and Hezbollah responsible for both attacks.
Last week, President Javier Milei declared Iran an enemy of Argentina in remarks given during a broader local interview in which he reiterated his support of Israel, stressing that “Israel accepts that other countries exist, Iran does not accept that Israel exists.”
“114 dead, come on, it [Iran] is an enemy of Argentina,” Milei said during the interview after recounting the two terrorist attacks in the 1990s.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
