Iran on Wednesday August 26 authorized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to enter two sites to which it was claiming access in the near future amid tensions linked to the US attempt to reimpose UN sanctions .

"Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two sites specified by the Agency," wrote the IAEA and the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OIEA) in a rare joint statement. "The dates for IAEA access and verification activities have been agreed upon," they added, without specifying a timeline.

Consequence of a European decision

The announcement comes as the first visit to Iran by the new IAEA Director General, Argentina Rafael Mariano Grossi, who took over as head of the agency in 2019, ends Wednesday. 

In June, the board of governors of the IAEA, an organization based in Vienna, Austria, adopted a resolution proposed by European states, asking Tehran to allow inspectors access to two sites in order to clarify whether nuclear activities unreported had taken place there in the early 2000s.

Iran has so far refused to respond favorably to the IAEA's requests, arguing that they were based on Israeli claims.

>> Read also: The Israel-Emirates agreement, a sign of a "new state of mind" in the Middle East

Tensions with Washington and its European allies 

Rafael Mariano Grossi had secured a personal visit to Tehran amid mounting tensions between the United States and its European allies over Washington's attempt to maintain an arms embargo on Iran and to reimpose sanctions of ONU.

The UK, France and Germany have rejected the move, saying it thwarts their efforts to save the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Donald Trump withdrew his country in 2018.

Washington maintains that it has the right to force the reimposition of sanctions through the deal's "snapback" mechanism, an unprecedented procedure that the United States intends to make legally controversial use of.

The joint committee on the agreement between Iran, the Europeans, China and Russia is meeting in Vienna on Tuesday.

With AFP

The summary of the week France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR