The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog hopes to visit Iran soon for talks with newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to a confidential report seen by AFP on Thursday.
Tensions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have repeatedly flared since a 2015 deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanction relief fell apart.
In recent years, Tehran has decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices needed to monitor the nuclear programme, and barred UN inspectors.
In the report, IAEA head Rafael Grossi said he hoped “an early visit” to Iran would help the “establishment of a fluid, constructive dialogue that swiftly leads to concrete results”.
Following his election in July, Pezeshkian indicated that he would meet with Grossi “at the appropriate juncture”, the report said.
Grossi last visited Iran in May, in a bid to improve cooperation with Tehran, which was at a level he described at the time as “completely unsatisfactory”.
Since then, the IAEA says Iran has significantly ramped up its nuclear programme and now has enough material to build several atomic bombs.
In a separate confidential report seen by AFP ahead of an IAEA board of governors’ meeting next week, the agency said Iran has further increased its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium in recent months.
The report said that Iran has an estimated amount of 164.7 kilogrammes enriched to up to 60 percent — just a short step from bomb-grade material.
Iran has always denied any ambition to develop nuclear weapons, insisting its activities are entirely for peaceful purposes.
‘Desire to re-engage’
The landmark 2015 deal started to unravel in 2018 when then US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions, and Iran retaliated by stepping up its nuclear activities.
EU-mediated efforts to revive the deal — bringing the United States back on board and Iran back into compliance — have so far been fruitless.
The IAEA has repeatedly voiced its concerns over Iran’s decision to decrease its cooperation with the agency, saying such steps have undermined its ability to guarantee the “peaceful nature” of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Amid the impasse, the IAEA’s board of governors in June adopted a resolution critical of Iran.
Since the election in July of President Pezeshkian, Iran has “clearly indicated its desire to re-engage” with the West in order to “obtain relief” from sanctions which have severely affected its economy, Gregory Brew of the US think-tank Eurasia Group told AFP.
With AFP
