Iran confirmed at a “high level” its readiness to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including to resolve outstanding issues, as well as to continue technical discussions. On Saturday, March 4, the agency reports Reuters.
According to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, he managed to improve the dialogue with the Iranian authorities during a meeting with Iranian leader Ibrahim Raisi, which took place on Saturday in Tehran. The head of the agency expressed satisfaction with the results of the current visit, which presuppose the establishment of cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the IAEA.
During his visit to Tehran, Grossi also held talks with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
“I think that we can talk about a clear improvement in at least my dialogue with the Iranian government. I think they heard me. I hope that we will see results soon,” Grossi said after the talks.
According to the director of the agency, Iran is ready to allow the IAEA to carry out activities for the verification and monitoring of nuclear facilities. In particular, install cameras and other monitoring equipment. Under what conditions monitoring will be carried out has not yet been discussed. As the IAEA director noted, they will be agreed upon in the course of further negotiations.
A technical meeting dedicated to this issue is to be held in Tehran in the near future. Preliminarily, Iran is ready to give the agency access to three nuclear facilities.
In addition, Grossi said that Tehran and the agency have begun technical discussions to fully clarify the origin of the 83.7% enriched uranium particles at the Fordow nuclear facility.
Earlier, on February 19, it was reported that IAEA inspectors found 84% enriched uranium in Iran. This is the highest level of purity found by inspectors in Iran. It is only 6% lower than necessary for the creation of nuclear weapons. Earlier, Tehran told the IAEA that its centrifuges are capable of enriching uranium up to 60%.
On February 1, the IAEA announced a breach at a nuclear facility in Fordow. An agency inspection found an undeclared change in the connection between two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges that enrich uranium up to 60%.
A day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with CNN, said that the country is ready to use force against Tehran if this is the only factor capable of stopping Iran’s nuclear program.
Also on January 30, Netanyahu said that in the course of negotiations with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, a strengthening of the alliance of the two countries against Iran was discussed. According to him, the parties came to the unanimity of opinion that the country’s authorities should not acquire nuclear weapons.
