Cooperation pledged on safeguards issues as Grossi wraps up Teheran trip

TEHERAN — Iran has agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to implement more "appropriate verification and monitoring activities" during a visit to the country by IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi.

The IAEA and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, or AEOI, agreed on Saturday that their interactions should be carried out "in a spirit of collaboration and in full conformity with the competencies of the IAEA and Iran's rights and obligations", a joint statement by the two agencies said.

Iran also expressed readiness to provide more "information and access" to address the IAEA's concerns over the safeguards issues, the alleged "uranium traces" found at three undeclared sites, the statement said.

Grossi arrived in Teheran on Friday and held talks with senior Iranian officials including President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and AEOI President Mohammad Eslami.

Raisi, who met with Grossi on Saturday, said he expects the IAEA to adopt a "professional" approach to the Iranian nuclear issue and prevent certain countries from affecting the nuclear watchdog's decisions, according to a report on the website of the president's office.

At a news conference in Vienna on his return from Teheran, Grossi said surveillance cameras will be reconnected at several of Iran's nuclear sites.

"This is very, very important" in terms of continuity of knowledge, in particular in the context of the possibility of the revival of (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), he said, referring to a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in 2015.

However, a spokesman for the AEOI, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said Teheran had not agreed to give access to people.

"During the two days that Mr Grossi was in Iran, the issue of access to individuals was never raised," the state news agency IRNA quoted Kamalvandi as saying.

There had also been no deal regarding putting new cameras in Iran's nuclear facilities, he said.

Countries such as Israel and the United States use the nuclear issue as an "excuse" to further pressure the Iranian people, Raisi said, pointing out that it was the US that violated the 2015 deal.

Iran has had "the highest level "of collaboration with the IAEA and expects the agency to tell the truth about Iran's nuclear program and the country's commitment to its regulations, he said.

Iran's foreign minister said in his meeting with Grossi that Iran is firmly determined to technically resolve the safeguards issues as soon as possible.

Dialogue highlighted

Grossi stressed the importance of using diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the issues, welcoming any initiative that would help the Vienna talks advance and succeed.

Follow-up talks in Iran between the IAEA and Iranian officials aimed at hammering out the details would happen "very, very soon", Grossi said.

In recent months the IAEA has criticized Iran for its lack of cooperation.

In November the IAEA's Board of Governors passed a resolution proposed by the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany that called on Iran to collaborate with the agency's investigators regarding "uranium traces".

Iran has repeatedly rejected such allegations and emphasized the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. However, the US pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Teheran, prompting the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the deal's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough has been achieved since the last round of talks in August.