On Monday, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, was prevented from attending an international conference in Vienna under pressure from the United States, Iran denouncing Monday a “precedent that will affect everyone.”
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright confirmed the American refusal: “We do not want sanctioned individuals to circumvent their sanctions. He requested a sanctions waiver, and that was refused,” he explained to reporters from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, where the General Conference is taking place.
This is the first time Mohammad Eslami has been barred from access to the IAEA premises, the UN nuclear watchdog. He had participated in the General Conference in September 2025 and had delivered a speech on behalf of Iran, a member state of the IAEA.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry clarified that Mohammad Eslami was subject to a United Nations travel ban.
Vienna “asked the competent Security Council committee for a waiver” but this request was “rejected for lack of consensus,” the ministry specified. “An entry onto the territory could not be authorized due to Austria’s international commitments,” the same source added.
According to Iranian state television, “Mohammad Eslami and his delegation boarded a regular flight for Vienna on Saturday, but were blocked en route due to obstructions by the United States.” The Iranian official therefore returned to Tehran on the same day.
For Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Reza Najafi, UN sanctions against Mr. Eslami are an “unfounded narrative from certain Western states.”
