(Tehran) The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, expressed hope on Saturday that the “constructive discussions” he was pursuing with Iran would pave the way for ” important agreements” on the Iranian nuclear issue.
On the second day of his visit to Tehran, Mr. Grossi had talks at the highest level since he met Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the afternoon.
During this first meeting between the two men, the head of the UN agency “expressed his satisfaction at having obtained a common agenda” with the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEIO) “on cooperation measures,” reported the official Irna news agency.
A little earlier, Mr. Grossi had praised the “atmosphere of work, frankness and cooperation” in which the discussions with Iranian officials were taking place.
He said he would take stock of his visit when he returned to Vienna, the IAEA headquarters, at the end of the day.
But, without waiting, the Argentine diplomat said he was convinced that, with the “constructive discussions” he had already had, “we will pave the way for important agreements”.
He did not specify what these advances could be, but the declared objective of this visit was to “relaunch the dialogue” with a view to a possible resumption of negotiations on the agreement concluded in Vienna in 2015 between Tehran and the major powers to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against the country.
This agreement, known by the acronym JCPOA, has been moribund since the withdrawal of the United States decided in 2018 by President Donald Trump, and the Islamic Republic has gradually freed itself from its commitments.
” Obligations ”
After his meeting with Mr. Grossi, the head of the IAEA, Mohammad Eslami, assured that the Iranian authorities would “continue to work” with the IAEA but that the other parties to the agreement (Germany, China, States United States, France, United Kingdom and Russia) also had to act.
“The three European countries and other countries are only focusing on Iran’s obligations under the JCPOA. They also have obligations that they must meet,” he said.
“Iran will never sacrifice its national interests”, reiterated Mr. Eslami, while President Raisi also insisted to Mr. Grossi on the defense of the “rights of the Iranian nation”.
“We expect the IAEA to take a completely professional approach [envers le dossier nucléaire iranien] and that the political powers […] will not affect the activities of the Agency”, added Mr. Raïsi, according to the site of the presidency.
The head of the UN agency will present the results of his visit during an IAEA Board of Governors scheduled for next week.
Depending on the progress made, Washington, London, Berlin and Paris will decide whether or not to submit a motion for a resolution blaming Tehran for recent developments in its nuclear program.
Their concerns were recently reinforced by a confidential report from the IAEA, according to which particles of uranium enriched to 83.7%, slightly less than the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb, were recently detected in the Fordo underground factory, a hundred kilometers south of the capital Tehran.
Iran, which denies wanting to acquire nuclear weapons, has justified itself by citing “involuntary fluctuations” during the enrichment process and by assuring “not to have made any attempt to enrich beyond 60%”, as Mr. Eslami repeated on Saturday.
France nevertheless judged Thursday that it was “an unprecedented and extremely serious development”.
Mr. Grossi did not specify whether he had obtained enhanced access to the Fordo site and an increase in the number of IAEA inspections allowed by the Iranian government.
He further indicated that discussions were continuing to resolve the dispute with Tehran over the discovery last year of traces of enriched uranium at three undeclared sites. Iran had been the subject of a call to order at the last IAEA meeting, in November 2022, for its lack of cooperation on this issue.
In addition, Westerners are concerned about the fact that Iran continues to enrich at high levels, far from the limit set by the agreement at 3.67%: it thus has 434.7 kg of uranium at 20 % (against 386.4 kg previously) and from 87.5 kg to 60% (against 62.3 kg).