Iran declares compliance with nuclear agreement with IAEA
2023.03.05 02:02
Iran declares compliance with nuclear agreement with IAEA
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday that Iran has given extensive assurances that it will help a long-stalled investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites and even reinstall removed monitoring equipment.
Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) jointly released a statement on Rafael Grossi’s return from a trip to Tehran just two days before the quarterly meeting of the 35-nation agency’s Board of Governors.
Diplomats stated that despite the fact that the statement provided few specifics, the possibility of a significant improvement in relations between the two countries is likely to thwart a Western push for yet another resolution mandating Iran’s cooperation. However, Iran has previously made promises of a similar nature that have yielded little or nothing.
According to the joint statement, “Iran expressed its readiness to… provide further information and access to address the outstanding safeguards issues.” Grossi “looks forward to… prompt and full implementation of the Joint Statement,” according to a secret IAEA report to member states seen by Reuters.
Following years of Iranian obstruction, Grossi stated at a news conference at the Vienna airport shortly after landing that Iran is supposed to provide access to information, places, and people.
Iran would likewise permit the re-establishment of additional checking gear that had been set up under the 2015 atomic arrangement, however at that point eliminated last year as the arrangement disentangled right after the U.S. withdrawal from the arrangement in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, stated, “Tehran has not agreed to give people access.”
“The issue of access to individuals was never raised during the two days that Mr. Grossi was in Iran,” Kamalvandi told the state news agency IRNA, adding that there has also been no agreement regarding the installation of new cameras in Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Grossi stated that the IAEA and Iranian officials would hold follow-up talks in Iran to iron out the specifics “very, very soon.”
Grossi responded, “Yes,” when asked if all of the monitoring equipment would be reinstalled. However, when asked where it would be reinstalled, he merely stated that several locations would be used.
