Vienna: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has begun its 70th General Conference, with the United States obstructing Iran's participation.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency, leaders, scientists, and national representatives have gathered in Vienna for the IAEA conference, under a broad agenda covering the Agency's annual report, advancing the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, technical cooperation, safeguards implementation, and illegal attacks on nuclear facilities.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), is set to deliver an address at the conference. This comes after Austria, under pressure from the United States, blocked Iran's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, from addressing the gathering.

Iran had submitted a formal request to the IAEA Secretariat to include in its agenda the topic entitled "prohibiting all forms of attacks and threats of attack against nuclear sites and facilities that are under Agency safeguards and dedicated to peaceful purposes."

In an explanatory memorandum, Tehran stated that an attack or threat against safeguarded nuclear facilities poses serious risks to nuclear safety and security, undermines the credibility of the Agency's safeguards system, and disrupts the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Explaining that such actions contravene the objectives and functions set forth in the IAEA Statute, the Islamic Republic also proposed the General Conference to facilitate a review of the legal, institutional, and technical aspects of attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.

The General Conference is one of the principal policy-making bodies of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It comprises representatives from all member states and convenes annually in September at the Agency's headquarters in Vienna.