Iran says talks with IAEA chief 'fruitful' amid reforms on nuclear activity surveillance

Iran held a “fruitful discussion” with the visiting UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi, Tehran’s ambassador to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday. “Iran and the IAEA held fruitful discussions based on mutual respect,” Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on his Twitter handle. Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Grossi, met with the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi ahead of Tehran’s deadline that restricts IAEA’s nuclear inspections unless the United States lifted sanctions imposed by former US President Trump under his ‘maximum pressure’ policy against Iran, shortly after he unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

While the Biden administration urged the Iranian lawmakers to exercise ‘careful diplomacy’ amid concerns about the possible expulsion of UN inspectors, Grossi arrived at the Iranian capital over the weekend to hold a dialogue to preserve the IAEA’s ability to monitor Iran's nuclear programs. Iran plans to suspend IAEA’s inspections of nuclear sites in accordance with the bill passed in the parliament in December last year, which scales back the Islamic republic’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action JCPOA obligations. Further, Iranian authorities, last week,  threatened to cut off surveillance cameras at the sites. Following the meeting, which he described resulted in “technical understanding” between International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran, Grossi held a press conference, announcing that the two parties decided Iran would permit nuclear activity surveillance for up to 3 months. 

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[Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, center, meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Credit: AP]

Temporary' nuclear inspection agreement

“The hope of the IAEA has been to stabilize a situation which was very unstable,” Grossi said at the Vienna airport after his arrival. “I think this technical understanding does it so that other political consultations at other levels can take place and most importantly we can avoid a situation in which we would have been, in practical terms, flying blind,” he added. “The number of inspectors on the ground in Iran would remain the same but that what changes are the type of activity the agency was able to carry out,” Grossi told reporters, adding that the two parties reached a 'temporary inspection deal'. He furthermore stated that the IAEA will continue to monitor Iran’s atomic programs “in a satisfactory manner.” According to a statement issued by IAEA, the AEOI and the IAEA agreed that Iran continues to implement fully and without limitation its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA as before; IAEA will continue to inspect nuclear sites for up to 3 months and keep the "technical understanding" of the terms under regular review. 

“We agreed that in view of the law, and in particular the provision that establishes limitations, we have reached a temporary bilateral technical understanding whereby the agency is going to continue its necessary verification and monitoring activities for a period of up to three months,” Grossi told journalists.

Meanwhile, in a televised address on the state TV, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Islamic Republic will cut IAEA’s camera footage access at the nuclear sites. His remarks came ahead of the meeting with Grossi, which was presided by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani. This is not a deadline for the world. This is not an ultimatum. This is an internal domestic issue between the parliament and the government. We have a democracy. We are supposed to implement the laws of the country. And the parliament adopted legislation — whether we like it or not,” he told government-run broadcaster Press TV.

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(Image Credit: AP)