3/3/2023–|Last updated: 3/3/202304:41 AM (Makkah)
Today, Friday, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, heads to Tehran to attend high-level meetings, days after the agency confirmed that Iran has made unprecedented progress in uranium enrichment, while an Israeli official said that Tel Aviv is facing a fateful stage in dealing with Iran’s nuclear file.
Yesterday, Thursday, the IAEA said – in a tweet on Twitter – that Grossi will hold a press conference in Vienna on Saturday, after his return from Tehran.
Diplomats said the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency would call on Tehran to cooperate in an investigation into traces of uranium found at undeclared sites.
The International Atomic Energy Agency did not specify who its director would meet with, but diplomats recently made it clear that he wanted to meet Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.
Grossi’s visit comes days after the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed – in a report – that its inspectors had found particles of uranium enriched to more than 80%, or just under the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb.
Tehran denied what was stated in the report on the level of uranium enrichment and what it describes as false allegations regarding its nuclear program.
European-American differences
The Wall Street Journal quoted diplomatic sources as saying that there is a US-European disagreement over the nature of the response to Iran’s enrichment of uranium to a rate that allows for the production of nuclear weapons.
The newspaper said that US President Joe Biden’s administration is reluctant to publicly blame Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting next week, while Britain, France and Germany prefer to formally blame Tehran at the meeting.
The newspaper added that the Europeans want to pass a resolution on Iran’s nuclear activities at the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
However, the Wall Street Journal’s sources were not likely to push European countries towards issuing a decision at the IAEA meeting without Washington’s support.
European Union spokesman Luis Miguel Bueno had said that there is a consensus in the European Union on the need to continue negotiations and contacts with Iran.
Bueno added in an interview with Al-Jazeera that what is required of Iran now is transparent dealings with the IAEA.
fateful stage
Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a former senior official in the Mossad as saying that Israel is facing a crucial stage in dealing with Iran’s nuclear file, at a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preoccupied with judicial changes.
The Israeli official – who was described as being among the planners to seize documents of Iran’s nuclear project – added that the judicial changes that the Netanyahu government is seeking to approve would negatively affect Israel’s dealings with Iran’s nuclear file in the short and long term.
The official – whose name is prohibited from being published by a decision of the military censor – added that the changes in the judiciary system will lead to a major rift in Israeli society and at a fateful time for Israel, considering that this will affect the credibility of the Israeli threats to launch military action against the nuclear facilities in Iran.
