The IAEA chief announced Sunday evening February 21, on his return from Tehran, to have found with Iran a “temporary solution” of three months to maintain a “satisfactory” surveillance of nuclear sites, even if the inspections will be limited as of Tuesday.
“Access will be reduced, let’s not hide our face, but we will be able to maintain the necessary degree of surveillance and verification,” Rafael Grossi said during a quick press briefing at the airport in Vienna. where the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency is located.
The number of inspectors unchanged
“This saves the situation immediately,” he added, referring to “a reasonable result after intense consultations”. Under the terms of this “technical bilateral agreement”, the number of on-site inspectors thus remains unchanged and the IAEA will be able to carry out unannounced inspections.
But Iranian law, which plans to restrict certain inspections, including on suspicious military sites, if American sanctions are not lifted, “exists and will be applied” from February 23, regretted Rafael Grossi.
“To achieve a stable situation, it will take political negotiation”
“We believe that the hour is serious but the AEIA continues to serve the international community”, he underlined. “Of course, to achieve a stable situation, it will take political negotiation, and that is not my responsibility.”
The IAEA director general arrived in Tehran on Saturday, where he met the President of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OIEA), Ali Akbar Salehi, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Sanctions strangling Iran
“Iran and the IAEA have had fruitful discussions based on mutual respect,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, the UN nuclear “gendarme”, had tweeted earlier.
After the unilateral American withdrawal and the reinstatement of the sanctions that strangle the Iranian economy, Iran gradually freed itself from 2019 from several limits that it had agreed to impose on its nuclear program under the agreement. concluded in 2015 with the 5 + 1 group (United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, China).
In a gesture towards Iran, the United States on Thursday accepted an invitation from Europeans to participate in talks to relaunch this pact.
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