‘Very concrete, very tangible’ steps made towards nuclear deal with Iran, IAEA chief says

A two-day visit of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi to Tehran has produced “very concrete, very tangible” steps toward resuming full-scale monitoring of Iran’s nuclear programme, he said on his return to IAEA headquarters in Vienna.

“We have agreed on a number of very concrete things” including reactivation of agency cameras in Iranian facilities, access to sites and boosting by 50 per cent the number of inspections at the underground Fordo facility, Mr Grossi said.

He was set to report on Monday to the IAEA board of governors on agreements reached with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Atomic Energy Organisation head Mohammad Eslami.

In Tehran Mr Grossi focused on the Fordo plant, where the IAEA discovered uranium particles enriched to 83.7 per cent, which is just below 90 per cent required for making nuclear bombs. He explained this occurred when, last autumn, Iran reconfigured its “very efficient [and] very fast” centrifuge cascade at Fordo, which normally purified uranium to 60 per cent.

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Since “there hasn’t been any accumulation [or] production of enriched uranium at that level,” he considered this an accident but insisted on additional inspections.

Agreement with Iran on this potentially explosive issue “a very important step forward,” he said.

Mr Grossi said the work ahead “requires a lot of time [and] requires painstaking efforts on the parts of my inspectors and their Iranian counterparts”. He vowed the agency “will be fully transparent in terms of its success – or lack of it”.

This could determine whether negotiations resume over the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) limiting Iran’s programme in exchange for lifting sanctions. In response to the 2018 US abrogation of the JCPOA, Iran turned off or removed IAEA cameras, reduced monitoring activities and boosted uranium enrichment levels and stockpiles.

Since Washington has not re-entered the JCPOA, the IAEA and Iran have agreed to resume co-operation on safeguards under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a party. This is not a substitute for the JCPOA which limits Iranian uranium enrichment to 3.67 per cent, its stockpile to 300 kilograms and specifies which centrifuges can be used.

US resumption of JCPOA talks remains problematic. US negotiator Robert Malley said Washington would wait to see the outcome of the visit. The US halted negotiations with Iran last September following Iran-wide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in custody days after her arrest for allegedly not complying with rules on head coverings, and Iran’s provision of drones to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Israel has ramped up preparations for attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities although, after his Tehran visit, Mr Grossi stated: “Any military attack on a nuclear facility is outlawed.”