Moscow: A prominent Russian academic has criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stating that it has effectively become an instrument of US foreign policy. The criticism comes in response to the Agency’s recent Board of Governors resolution against Iran.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency, Vladimir Yevseyev, a senior researcher at Russia’s Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Institute, expressed his concerns in an interview published in Moscow. Yevseyev highlighted that the IAEA Board of Governors adopted a resolution urging Iran to immediately disclose the status of its enriched uranium stockpile and its bombed nuclear facilities to the Agency.

Yevseyev contended that the demand for such information primarily serves the interests of the United States and Israel, the latter of which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He argued that the resolution was passed because Western countries and their allies hold a majority in the IAEA Board of Governors.

The Russian scholar criticized IAEA Directors General, since Mohamed ElBaradei, for acting as tools of US foreign policy, including the current chief, Rafael Grossi. Yevseyev mentioned that Grossi published a report that Israel viewed as a permit for attacking Iran and noted that Grossi failed to identify the country responsible for firing at IAEA inspectors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

He further emphasized that the IAEA overlooked the fact that during Israel’s military aggression against Iran in June 2025, the United States conducted military attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which were under IAEA safeguards. Yevseyev asserted that the US strike constituted a violation of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement and undermined the Agency’s credibility as an independent body supervised by the UN Security Council.