Grossi is pushing for “practical and concrete measures” to speed up cooperation in talks in Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program.
The head of the United Nations nuclear body has called on Iran to step up efforts to make cooperation tangible and “concrete.”
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called on Tehran on Tuesday to take “concrete” measures to promote cooperation. The United Nations is seeking to restore oversight of Iran’s nuclear activities but has faced various setbacks in implementing a deal reached last year.
However, officials from both sides suggested that there was some distance between their positions.
At a news conference in the Iranian city of Isfahan, Grossi said that in discussions with Iranian officials he had suggested focusing on “very practical and tangible measures that can be implemented to accelerate cooperation.”
“What we are looking for are concrete measures that could achieve this [the deal] operational,” said the IAEA chief.
Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, emphasized that the talks with Grossi were positive and productive.
“We continue to communicate on unresolved issues,” he noted. “The important point is that Mr. Grossi takes the necessary measures to solve the problems, which are mainly political.”
No new deal
While both men said during Grossi’s visit that there would be no immediate new agreement, they pointed to a joint statement from March 2023 as a path for cooperation.
That statement included a commitment by Iran to resolve issues related to sites where inspectors have questions about possible unreported nuclear activity and to allow the IAEA to “conduct further appropriate verification and monitoring activities.”
Iran and the IAEA have often clashed over the U.N. agency’s role in overseeing a nuclear program that Western nations suspect is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies that it wants to build nuclear weapons.
Iran enriches uranium to a purity of up to 60 percent, which is about 90 percent of weapons quality. If this material were further enriched, it would be enough for two nuclear weapons, according to an official IAEA benchmark. No other country has enriched itself to this extent without using it to produce weapons.
Grossi has already warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels to make “multiple” nuclear bombs if it decides to do so.
He has acknowledged that the agency cannot guarantee that none of Iran’s clandestine enrichment centrifuges have been removed.