IAEA Chief Sees an Encouraging Sign From Iran

Iran has agreed to allow in an International Atomic Energy Agency technical team in the coming days to discuss restoring camera surveillance at nuclear sites, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday. Rafael Mariano Grossi called it an encouraging signal of Iran's attitude toward nuclear talks with the United States, though the move wasn't directly linked to the US talks, the AP reports. Grossi, speaking to reporters in Washington after meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran last week, joined the American and Iranian sides in projecting optimism after a second round of negotiations Saturday over Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Technical-level talks are expected this week.

Iranian leaders were engaged "with a sense of trying to get to an agreement," Grossi said. "That is my impression." The US is looking to ensure Iran doesn't develop nuclear weapons, while Iran wants the easing of sanctions that have damaged its economy.

• After President Trump pulled the US out of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in his first term, it responded by curtailing access and monitoring by the IAEA at nuclear sites. Since then, Iran has pressed ahead on enriching and stockpiling uranium that is closer to weapons-grade levels, the agency says.
• Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has long refrained from ordering the final steps needed to make nuclear bombs. Iranian leaders say their nuclear sites are for civilian purposes only.
• Grossi said Iranian officials during his visit there last week agreed to allow in an IAEA technical team to discuss resuming access to and monitoring of nuclear sites, among other issues.
• The IAEA is not playing a direct role in the talks, and Trump's administration has not asked it to, Grossi said. That Iran and the US sought to resolve the issue peacefully was more important than whether UN nuclear monitors take part, he said. But when it comes to ensuring Iranian compliance with any deal, he said, "this will have to be verified by the IAEA." "I cannot imagine how you could put ... a corps of invented international or national inspectors to inspect Iran" without having the agency's decades of expertise, he said. "I think it would be problematic and strange.
• Grossi, 64, has been director-general of the IAEA since 2019. On Wednesday, he said he is "very, very seriously" considering trying to become secretary-general of the UN when the position opens up in 2027, AFP reports.

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