“Iran’s cooperation remains severely lacking. We remain seriously concerned about Iran’s continued expansion of its nuclear program in ways that have no credible civilian purpose, including its continued production of highly enriched uranium,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a press briefing.
He was responding to a question about a Vienna meeting between Abram Paley, US special envoy for Iran, and head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi.
Miller said the meeting “did discuss how Iran should fully uphold its safeguard obligations and provide full cooperation to the IAEA without delay.”
On Wednesday, Iran’s nuclear chief said that Tehran has invited Grossi to visit in May and deliver a speech at the 30th National Nuclear Conference in Isfahan.
The visit will focus on the removal of misunderstandings and the expansion of cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said, adding “Iran’s interactions with the IAEA continue in a natural process.”
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 former president Donald Trump’s administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed biting 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.
Efforts to revive the deal have stalled, with the current US administration under President Joe Biden labeling the deal as “dead.”
In September, the IAEA slammed a Tehran move to withdraw accreditation from several experienced agency inspectors as “disproportionate and unprecedented,” prompting Eslami to respond by claiming that Western governments are exploiting the agency’s capabilities to mount pressure on Tehran.
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