Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has given final approval to a law that suspends cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), state media reported on Wednesday.
"Masoud Pezeshkian promulgated the law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency," state TV said, meaning the measure drawn up in the aftermath of the Iran-Israel war last month is now in effect.
The decision comes after Iran's parliament approved the bill to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. This move follows a period of heightened hostilities, including an air war with Israel, during which the longtime enemy of Tehran stated its intent to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Under the newly promulgated law, any future inspections by the IAEA will require explicit approval from Iran's Supreme National Security Council. This stipulation introduces a new layer of oversight and potential restriction on the agency's monitoring activities in the Islamic Republic.
Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted by state media last week as saying that Iran would accelerate its civilian nuclear programme.
Tehran has consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons, maintaining that an IAEA resolution earlier in June that declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations paved the way for Israel's attacks.
Qalibaf was quoted as saying that the IAEA had refused even to appear to condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and "has put its international credibility up for sale."
He said that "for this reason, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the Agency until the security of the nuclear facilities is guaranteed, and move at a faster pace with the country's peaceful nuclear programme."
The US bombing of Iran's key Fordow nuclear site "seriously and heavily damaged" the facility, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with CBS News.
"No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged," Araghchi said in the interview broadcast on Tuesday.
"The Atomic Energy Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran... is currently undertaking evaluation and assessment, the report of which will be submitted to the government."
Intercepted Iranian communications downplayed the extent of damage caused by US strikes on Iran's nuclear programme, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing four people familiar with classified intelligence circulating within the US government.
US President Donald Trump has said the strikes "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear programme, but US officials acknowledge it will take time to form a complete assessment of the damage caused by the US military strikes.