The head of the UN agency for atomic surveillance will travel to Tehran next week to pressure Iranian authorities to allow access to sites where the country is believed to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material, he announced. the organization on Saturday.
It will be the first visit to Iran by the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, since he took office in December. It comes amid intense international pressure on the country over its nuclear program.
The focus will be on asking for access to sites believed to be from the early 2000s, before Iran signed the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers. Iran maintains that IAEA inspectors have no legal basis to inspect these places.
“My goal is for my meetings in Tehran to lead to concrete progress to address the outstanding issues that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the access issue,” Grossi said in a statement.
“I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian government that will be valuable now and in the future.”
The Iranian delegation to international organizations in Vienna tweeted: “We hope this visit will lead to enhanced mutual cooperation.”
Since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the international nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, the other countries involved – Germany, China, France, Britain and Russia – have struggled to keep him alive.
The agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), promises economic incentives to Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. However, with the reinstatement of some US sanctions, Iran’s economy has steadily deteriorated and Tehran has begun to violate the provisions of the agreement with the intention of pressuring the other countries to do more to offset those sanctions.
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