UN nuclear chief says Iran visit could produce 'important agreements'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 Mar 2023 15:46
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The UN nuclear watchdog chief said he had "constructive" meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran after reports alleged the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level, which Iran had denied.

International Atomic Energy Organization, IAEA, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi listens to a question during a joint press conference with the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Saturday, March 4, 2023. (AP)

The UN nuclear watchdog chief said Saturday that he had "constructive" meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief's two-day visit comes as the Vienna-based organization seeks greater cooperation with Iran on its nuclear activities.

"By having a constructive discussion... and having good agreements, like I am sure we are going to have, we are going to be paving the way for important agreements," Rafael Grossi told a news conference alongside Iran's top nuclear official Mohammad Eslami.

Grossi arrived in Iran on Friday amid a stalemate in talks to resurrect a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear activities, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

A diplomatic source told AFP the IAEA chief would meet President Ebrahim Raisi during his trip to "relaunch the dialogue" on Iran's atomic work and to "reset the relationship at the highest level".

Read next: Iran's AEOI slams 84% uranium enrichment claims as false

Grossi had made it clear that he would only travel to Tehran if he was invited to meet with the president, according to the source.

According to an IAEA report seen by AFP this week, uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 percent – just under the 90 percent required to produce an atomic bomb – had been detected at Iran's underground Fordow plant about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital.

However, Tehran denies wanting nuclear weapons and that it has made no attempts to enrich uranium beyond 60% purity. Iran's government noted that "unintended fluctuations... may have occurred" during the enrichment process.

The discovery came after Iran made significant changes to an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium without informing the IAEA.

Eslami: E3 must also adhere to obligations

Grossi was met at Mehrabad International Airport on Friday by Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, and later met with the agency's chief, Eslami.

Eslami called on other signatories to the 2015 agreement to fulfill their "obligations" at a joint press conference on Saturday. "Three European and some other countries are just focusing on Iran's JCPOA obligations," he told the news conference. "They too have obligations that they need to adhere to."

"We came to an arrangement (with Grossi) to define our cooperation within the framework of the safeguards" on nuclear activity.

Grossi later met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Iran's top diplomat earlier told CNN that "the window for an agreement on negotiations to lift sanctions is still open, but this window will not be open forever".

During his visit, the IAEA director general sought "more access to the (Fordow) site, more inspections," according to a diplomatic source.