Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency reached an agreement on a three-month plan, which should solve the problem of uranium particles found in undeclared sites, which prevented the return to the nuclear agreement. Iran agreed to transfer to the IAEA by March 20 documents concerning the questions presented by the agency. After a two-week examination, the agency will be able to present clarification questions to Iran.
A week later, a joint meeting will be held in Tehran regarding each of the problematic sites. CEO of the agency Raphael Grossi He will report the results to the meeting of the Agency’s Board of Governors in June. However, this agreement does not make any reference to additional problems related to the Iranian nuclear program. In the meantime, Grossi arrived in Tehran on Friday for last-minute talks, which were intended to ensure the renewal of the IAEA’s full supervision of Iran’s nuclear program against the background of the reports concerning its dangerous approach to the level of enrichment and activation for military purposes. Except for his colleague, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Islami was scheduled to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and he said he would report in detail on his talks upon his return to Vienna.
Raphael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (Photo: Reuters)
Grossi continued his talks with the Iranian representatives yesterday, saying that they are conducted in an atmosphere of “honesty and cooperation”. In a joint press conference with the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Islami, Grossi added that within the framework of constructive discussions and creating good agreements, “Honestly, I am sure we will reach an understanding.”
In his words, Grossi also referred to the Israeli issue, adding that “in response to the question about Israel’s threats to attack the nuclear facilities in Iran – there is a clear position of the IAEA and the international community. The IAEA condemned any attack or threat of an attack on nuclear facilities. He also added that “I don’t see any contradiction here. I think that any military attack on a nuclear facility is against the law and the normative conduct that we all obey.”
International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA (Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)
Islami said that the powers that signed the nuclear agreement cannot pressure Iran and the IAEA to fulfill their obligations in the agreement “when they themselves do not fulfill their obligations”. Earlier, as part of a conference on disarmament held in Switzerland, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdulahian said that If the IAEA’s Board of Governors makes negative decisions towards Iran this month, “we reserve the right to respond.”
Regarding the drones transferred to Russia by the Iranians, the minister said that “we are talking about weapons that were transferred to Russia before the invasion. The Russians told us they did not use this weapon against Ukraine, and we believe them. In general, this is a weapon of the Zionist regime.” Furthermore, according to a report in “Bloomberg”, Iran is seeking to equip itself with Russian-made air defense systems. Officials in Israel and the United States said that Iran’s equipping itself with these advanced systems may hasten an Israeli decision to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities .