Iranian minister Araghchi wants Japan to play key safety role over nuclear facilities
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for Japan to share its expertise and help Iran secure facilities severely damaged by recent Israeli and US strikes.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
- Iran's Foreign Minister requests Japan's expertise in nuclear safety due to damage from alleged Israeli and US strikes on Iranian facilities.
- Araghchi says Iran is open to nuclear negotiations with the US, but only if the outcome is fair and balanced for both parties.
- Iran seeks cooperation with Japan on technical safety, not inspections, citing unprecedented damage and a gap in IAEA procedures.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Dec 6 called for Japan to share its expertise with past atomic disasters and help Iran secure facilities severely damaged by recent Israeli and US strikes.
In an exclusive interview with Kyodo News, Mr Araghchi said Iran’s nuclear sites were “bombarded, destroyed and heavily damaged” during the attacks that he said were “perhaps the biggest violation of international law” ever committed against a safeguarded nuclear facility under the monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Touching on the prospects for stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States, Mr Araghchi also said Iran is open to diplomacy, but only under conditions that guarantee a “fair and balanced” outcome.
“It depends on the United States,” he said.
The nuclear talks have hit an impasse as the US under President Donald Trump wants Iran to completely halt its uranium enrichment, a demand that Tehran has rejected.
“I have no doubt that Japan has good knowledge on how to improve the safety of nuclear facilities, and that knowledge can be shared with Iran,” he said, citing extensive work on environmental, medical and technical safety measures in the aftermath of nuclear crises.
Japan experienced the 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011.
Mr Araghchi emphasised that potential cooperation would pertain to technical safety, not to inspections, which is an IAEA mandate.
“On the technical aspects of these safety challenges, cooperation with Japan can be very useful.”
He said Iran faces a complex mix of safety and security threats that it has never seen before, citing structural damage and potential radiation leaks after the June strikes.
As there is “no precedent of a peaceful nuclear facility being bombarded”, the foreign chief said, the strikes exposed a critical procedural gap within the IAEA, in terms of how to inspect such a facility.
Earlier in 2025, Iran and the IAEA reached a framework of cooperation during talks in Cairo to define a workable mechanism for inspecting and stabilising sites damaged by military action.
Mr Araghchi said, however, that the agreement was undermined when the US and the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal sought to restore past UN Security Council sanctions.
On the future of nuclear negotiations with the US, the minister said Tehran is unconvinced about its prospects, owing to the US’ withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord and its support for the recent Israeli attacks on Iran.
“If they change their approach and are prepared for a fair and mutually beneficial negotiation, we are prepared as well. But negotiation is different from dictation. For the time being, we are not convinced they are ready for a real, serious negotiation,” he said.
The 2015 nuclear deal placed strict limits on Iran’s enrichment activities in return for sanctions relief.
Following the US withdrawal from the deal during Mr Trump’s first term in 2018, Tehran expanded its nuclear activities
Mr Araghchi said the core sticking point remains Washington’s reluctance to acknowledge Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Japan is a member. KYODO NEWS
