The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday commented on Iran’s advancing atomic program as wars in the Middle East rage on and Donald Trump will return to the White House.
Rafael Mariano Grossi’s visit to Tehran sought to restore his inspectors’ access to Iran’s program and answer still-outstanding questions about it.
Previous trips have yielded little success since then-President Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Islamic Republic’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Grossi said: “It is indispensable to get at this point in time to get some concrete, tangible, visible results that will indicate that this joint work is improving the situation.”
Remarks from both Grossi and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Eslam, suggested gaps still exist, even as some countries are pushing to take action against Iran at an upcoming IAEA Board of Governors’ meeting.
Since the deal’s collapse, Iran has abandoned all limits that the deal put on its program, and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors.
Eslami said: “We have repeatedly said any resolution seeking to intervene in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear affairs will be definitely followed by immediate reciprocal steps and we will not allow them to (exert) this kind of pressure.”
Source: Africanews
