Iran and the United Nations' nuclear watchdog are still negotiating over how to implement a deal struck last year to expand inspections of the Islamic Republic's rapidly advancing atomic program, officials said on Tuesday.
The acknowledgement by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, shows the challenges his inspectors face, years after the collapse of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers and the wider tensions gripping the Middle East in light of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Grossi has previously warned that Tehran has enriched uranium close to weapons-grade levels to potentially manufacture "several" nuclear bombs should it decide to do so.
He has also acknowledged the agency's inability to ensure that none of Iran's centrifuges have been used for clandestine enrichment.
On a visit to the Iranian city of Isfahan, Grossi held a press conference alongside Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation. While both men said there would be no immediate new deal struck during the visit, they pointed to a March 2023 joint statement as a path forward for cooperation.
That statement included a pledge by Iran to resolve issues around sites where inspectors have questions about possible undeclared nuclear activity, and to allow the IAEA to “implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities.”
While Grossi offered few specifics on the ongoing discussions, according to Grossi technical teams were in negotiations. He emphasised the need for concrete measures to put the agreement into place. Eslami, meanwhile, described the implementation problems as "mainly political".
In a subsequent statement in Vienna, Grossi reaffirmed that the 2023 joint statement is "still alive".
“I want results and I want them soon,” Grossi told reporters at Vienna airport. “The present state is completely unsatisfactory,” he said.
All the while, tensions between Iran and Israel have lately hit a new high as the war in Gaza continues.
Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month, after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israel’s apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and others.
Isfahan itself apparently has come under Israeli fire in recent weeks, despite being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites.
Eslami in his remarks accused Israel of meddling in the relationship between the IAEA and Iran.
“It is important to be careful that the hostile actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which the Zionists are source of ... do not affect the interactions between Iran and the agency,” Eslami said. “What is shown in the media is based on the Zionist regime’s manipulations.”
