Nuclear: IAEA reaches agreement with Iran on surveillance equipment
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, who is in Tehran, announced that he reached an agreement with Iran on Sunday over nuclear program monitoring equipment.
AFP - ALEX HALADA
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose chief Rafael Grossi was in Tehran on Sunday, September 12, announced on the spot that it had reached an agreement with Iran on the subject of nuclear program monitoring equipment, some days after denouncing a lack of cooperation from the Islamic Republic.
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Iran seems to have taken a half-step towards the IAEA, analyzes our correspondent in Tehran,
Siavosh Ghazi
.
The country's new nuclear program chief called the talks he had with Rafael Grossi positive.
He added that they would continue and that the director general of the UN agency should return to Tehran for further discussions.
"
IAEA inspectors have the authorization to intervene to maintain the equipment and replace hard drives,
" said the "nuclear gendarme", in a joint statement with the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization.
This should still make it possible to record the activities carried out in these sites, but the IAEA will still not have access to the data from the cameras.
In February, Tehran pledged to provide them in the long term, if the talks to save
the 2015 international agreement are successful
.
Ensuring mutual cooperation and trust
Rafael Grossi, who is making his second trip to Iran this year, is thus ensuring continuity in the monitoring of Iran's nuclear program.
The IAEA was in fact worried about losing data in the event of saturation of the recording capacity of the tools.
The diplomat will return to Tehran "
in the near future for high-level consultations
," said the statement, which insisted on "
the mutual cooperation and trust of the two parties
".
The visit comes a few days after the delivery of a report from the UN nuclear agency accusing Iran of lack of cooperation, and before a meeting from Monday of the IAEA Board of Governors.
Under a law passed in December by its parliament, Iran in February restricted the access of the organization's inspectors to some of its nuclear facilities.
A compromise had been negotiated to ensure some degree of oversight, but it expired in June.
Bringing the Vienna Agreement back to life
This new arrangement offers a reprieve to the great powers, which are trying to resuscitate the Vienna agreement, torpedoed in 2018 by the decision of
former US President Donald Trump
to withdraw from it and restore US sanctions.
In response, Iran has freed itself from most of its commitments and continues its nuclear activities using increasingly modern devices.
The United States and European countries, which have lost patience, have asked Tehran to return to the negotiating table, but Tehran, which feels in a position of strength, is dragging its feet.
Talks were adjourned on June 20, two days after the victory of
ultra-conservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi
.
A very closely monitored visit to Israel
Rafael Grossi's whirlwind visit to Tehran has been closely watched in Israel, where the situation is viewed with concern, according to our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Michel Paul
.
“
Israel will do anything to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
A sentence pronounced just a few days ago by the Israeli Prime Minister.
Like his predecessor, Naftali Bennett accuses Iran of seeking to acquire the atomic bomb in secret, and he is opposed to the international Iran nuclear deal.
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the world must find a "plan B" to prevent Iran from acquiring atomic weapons.
According to Israeli experts, in two months Iran will have acquired the materials needed to make a nuclear weapon.
It will take a few more months for the Iranians to develop a first operational bomb.
Israel calls for an appropriate and swift international response to Iran's actions.
Last month in Washington
, President Joe Biden renewed during a meeting with the head of the Israeli government the guarantee that Iran can never develop a nuclear weapon while giving priority to a diplomatic option.
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