Iran agrees to visit by team from UN nuclear watchdog in coming weeks for talks
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The visit will not include a trip by the International Atomic Energy Agency to Iran's nuclear sites, which were targeted in June by US and Israeli air strikes.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
- Iran will host a UN nuclear watchdog team to discuss relations, but not to inspect nuclear sites, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.
- Iran is assessing damages to nuclear installations, citing radiation risks, following strikes, and lacks a credible report from its Atomic Energy Organisation.
- Gharibabadi will meet with Britain, France, and Germany in Istanbul to discuss the 2015 nuclear deal, while separate talks with the US continue, mediated by Oman.
AI generated
UNITED NATIONS, United States - Iran has agreed to allow a technical team from the UN nuclear watchdog to visit in the coming weeks to discuss relations between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on July 23.
“The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the (nuclear) sites,” he told reporters, during a visit to New York for meetings at the United Nations.
The IAEA had no specific comment on his remarks, but said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi was “actively engaging with all parties involved in the Iran nuclear issue.”
The IAEA has said it is essential for it to be able to resume inspections in Iran following air strikes by Israel and the US
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes.
“Our Atomic Energy Organisation is assessing, actually, the damages to the nuclear installations, and we are waiting to receive their report. In this regard, it’s a very dangerous work. We do not know what has happened there... because of the risks of the radiation,” Mr Gharibabadi said.
Diplomats have in particular raised concerns about the fate of some 400kg of highly enriched uranium
Mr Gharibabadi said the IAEA has not officially asked about the fate of those stocks and that Tehran “cannot say anything now because we do not have any valid and credible report from (Iran’s) Atomic Energy Organisation.”
Any negotiations over Iran’s future nuclear programme will require its cooperation with the IAEA, which angered Iran in June by declaring on the eve of the Israeli strikes that Tehran was violating non-proliferation treaty commitments.
Mr Gharibabadi said he would travel to Istanbul to meet with Britain, France and Germany on July 25. They, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal that the US quit in 2018. Under the deal, sanctions on Iran were eased in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
Separately, Tehran and Washington have this year held five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Mr Gharibabadi said these are focused on negotiating transparency measures by Iran with regard to its nuclear programme and the lifting of US sanctions. REUTERS
