ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran will continue its “full cooperation” with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to ensure compliance through a “peaceful” nuclear program, its foreign minister said on Thursday, with the agency chief in Tehran for crucial talks to reach diplomatic solutions.
Rafael Grossi arrived in Tehran on a two-day trip on Wednesday and was welcomed by Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi. He later met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who also was a key negotiator in Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, according to Iran’s state IRNA news agency. The visit comes weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“As a committed member of NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] we continue our full cooperation with the IAEA. Differences can be resolved through cooperation and dialogue. We agree to proceed with courage and good will,” Araghchi said on X following his meeting with Grossi.
“Iran has never left the negotiating table on its peaceful nuclear program,” he stressed, adding that the ball is in the EU’s court to negotiate but that Tehran is “NOT” ready to negotiate under pressure.
In a post on X, he described his meeting with Araghchi as “indispensable.”
Started my two-day visit to Iran with an indispensable meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister @araghchi. pic.twitter.com/c8Fg9LqqqD
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) November 14, 2024
The nuclear chief is also expected to meet with President Masoud Pezeshkian during his visit.
This visit comes after Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs, stated on Saturday that the maximum pressure policy initiated by the US caused a rise in uranium enrichment to 60 percent from 3.5 percent.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions.
But the deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under Trump’s administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic republic, which in turn began stepping up its nuclear enrichment efforts.
Tehran, however, has repeatedly denied that it seeks to develop an atomic bomb, saying that such a move goes against the Islamic republic’s doctrine.
In September, Grossi told Rudaw in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York that the international community and Iran need a “solid framework” to stabilize the situation regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.
A year prior, he condemned Tehran’s decision to unilaterally withdraw accreditation from IAEA inspectors, after Tehran withdrew their licenses on what they said were “excessive demands” by Western powers seeking to “destroy cooperation between Iran and the IAEA” and misusing the watchdog “for their own political purposes.”
In February, the US said it was “seriously concerned” about the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program and slammed Tehran’s cooperation as “severely lacking.”
