Iran agrees to allow the U.N. nuclear watchdog to service monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear sites after talks with IAEA head Rafael Grossi, according to the head of Iran’s atomic energy body.
The talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Grossi were aimed at establishing a detente between Tehran and the West.
The IAEA said that there had been no progress on two key issues: explaining uranium traces found at old, undeclared sites and getting urgent access to monitoring equipment so the agency can continue to keep track of parts of Iran’s nuclear program as per the 2015 deal.
“We agreed over the replacement of the memory cards of the agency’s cameras,” Mohammad Eslami, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), was quoted as saying by state media.
The IAEA told member states in reports that there had been no progress on two central issues: explaining uranium traces found at several old, undeclared sites and getting urgent access to some monitoring equipment so the agency can continue to keep track of parts of Iran’s nuclear program as provided by the 2015 deal.
“These reports were the official stamp on what we have been saying for a long time already: The Iranians are advancing unobstructed on the nuclear (weapon) project,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Separate, indirect talks between the United States and Iran on both returning to compliance with the deal have been halted since June. Washington and its European allies have been urging hardline President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, which took office in August, to return to the talks.
Under the 2015 deal between Iran and major powers, Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.