IAEA Hopes for Top Level Talks with Iran

Iran

September 30th, 4:36am

London - Asharq Al-Awsat

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi delivers his speech at the opening of the IAEA General Conference at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, September 20, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has said he was hoping to return to Iran soon to meet with President Ebrahim Raisi or foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. He told the BBC that the IAEA was continuing to push for full access to Iran's nuclear sites. The IAEA said on Sunday Iran had failed to fully honor the terms of a deal struck two weeks ago to allow the watchdog's inspectors to service monitoring equipment in the country. "The (IAEA) Director General (Rafael Grossi) stresses that Iran's decision not to allow agency access to the TESA Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop is contrary to the agreed terms of the joint statement issued on 12 September," it said in a statement. The Sept. 12 agreement, reached on the eve of a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors, meant Western powers chose not to seek a resolution criticizing Iran at that meeting since the equipment's memory cards would be replaced just as they were due to fill up. Iran's envoy to IAEA said on Monday that the director general's report isn't accurate and goes beyond the agreed terms of the joint statement.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3217871/iaea-hopes-top-level-talks-iran