UN nuclear chief seeks ‘common ground’ with Iran
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Less than a week ahead of the resumption of talks to revive the battered Iranian nuclear deal, the United Nations nuclear chief said he was looking for "common ground" with Tehran and the head of the Islamic Republic’s atomic energy agency said Iran is “determined” to continue developing its nuclear program with an eye towards boosting its power generation.
“Iran has plans to generate 10 gigawatts of electricity, especially via small nuclear plants with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts,” head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammed Eslami, said in Tehran on Tuesday in a joint press conference with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.
Grossi is visiting Tehran in the hopes of establishing a direct line of communication with Iranian officials so his agency “can resume essential verification activities in the country,” he tweeted the day before.
The IAEA monitors Iran’s nuclear activity to ensure compliance with the 2015 accord, which United States President Donald Trump walked away from in 2018, imposing sanctions in a failed attempt to force Tehran to negotiate a new, broader deal.
After the US re-imposed sanctions, Iran began walking back on its commitments under the deal, including restricting some IAEA access. Iran is now enriching uranium to 60%, far above the 3.67% limit set in the deal. Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Grossi said they had a morning of “intense” work and that negotiations continue “with a view to finding common ground.”
“It’s very important that we put this in the perspective of the peaceful nuclear program of Iran at a time where climate change demands that we work together, that we add clean nuclear energy to the matrices around the world, as it was discussed just a few days ago in Glasgow,” he added, referring to the UN climate summit.
Grossi also met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who urged the IAEA to “ignore foreign political pressures,” according to a statement from the ministry that added they expect remaining issues to be resolved “in the coming months.”
Next week, talks to revive the nuclear deal will resume in Vienna after a five month hiatus. Both Washington and Tehran have said that time to make an agreement is limited.
If the deal “does not yield any clear and tangible results for the Islamic Republic and if it does not normalize Iran’s trade with foreign sides, the other parties must know for sure that this window of opportunity will not remain open forever,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that “eventually Iran’s continued nuclear advances will render the advantage, the utility of returning to the JCPOA as it was crafted and ultimately implemented in 2016 as not worth it.”
“Iran has plans to generate 10 gigawatts of electricity, especially via small nuclear plants with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts,” head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammed Eslami, said in Tehran on Tuesday in a joint press conference with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.
Grossi is visiting Tehran in the hopes of establishing a direct line of communication with Iranian officials so his agency “can resume essential verification activities in the country,” he tweeted the day before.
The IAEA monitors Iran’s nuclear activity to ensure compliance with the 2015 accord, which United States President Donald Trump walked away from in 2018, imposing sanctions in a failed attempt to force Tehran to negotiate a new, broader deal.
After the US re-imposed sanctions, Iran began walking back on its commitments under the deal, including restricting some IAEA access. Iran is now enriching uranium to 60%, far above the 3.67% limit set in the deal. Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Grossi said they had a morning of “intense” work and that negotiations continue “with a view to finding common ground.”
“It’s very important that we put this in the perspective of the peaceful nuclear program of Iran at a time where climate change demands that we work together, that we add clean nuclear energy to the matrices around the world, as it was discussed just a few days ago in Glasgow,” he added, referring to the UN climate summit.
Grossi also met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who urged the IAEA to “ignore foreign political pressures,” according to a statement from the ministry that added they expect remaining issues to be resolved “in the coming months.”
Next week, talks to revive the nuclear deal will resume in Vienna after a five month hiatus. Both Washington and Tehran have said that time to make an agreement is limited.
If the deal “does not yield any clear and tangible results for the Islamic Republic and if it does not normalize Iran’s trade with foreign sides, the other parties must know for sure that this window of opportunity will not remain open forever,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that “eventually Iran’s continued nuclear advances will render the advantage, the utility of returning to the JCPOA as it was crafted and ultimately implemented in 2016 as not worth it.”