The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, expressed the hope, on Saturday March 4, that the "constructive discussions" he was pursuing with Iran would pave the way for "important agreements" on the Iranian nuclear dossier.

On the second day of his visit to Tehran, Rafael Grossi held talks at the highest level since he met Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the afternoon.

During this first meeting between the two men, the head of the UN agency "expressed his satisfaction at having obtained a common agenda" with the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEIO) "on cooperation measures," the official Irna news agency reported.

A little earlier, Rafael Grossi had praised the "atmosphere of work, frankness and cooperation" in which the discussions with Iranian officials were taking place.

He said he would take stock of his visit when he returned to Vienna, the IAEA headquarters, at the end of the day.

"Important Agreements"

But, without waiting, the Argentine diplomat said he was convinced that, with the "constructive discussions" he had already had, "we will pave the way for important agreements".

He did not specify what these advances could be, but the declared objective of this visit was to "relaunch the dialogue" with a view to a possible resumption of negotiations on the agreement concluded in Vienna in 2015 between Tehran and the major powers to limit Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against the country.

This agreement, known by the acronym of JCPOA, has been moribund since the withdrawal of the United States decided in 2018 by President Donald Trump, and the Islamic Republic has gradually freed itself from its commitments.

“Obligations” to “assume”

After his meeting with Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, Mohammad Eslami, assured that the Iranian authorities would "continue to work" with the IAEA but that the other parties to the agreement (Germany, China, United States United States, France, United Kingdom and Russia) also had to act.

"The three European countries and other countries are only focusing on Iran's obligations under the JCPOA. They also have obligations that they must meet," he said.

"Iran will never sacrifice its national interests", reiterated Mohammad Eslami, while President Raisi also insisted with Rafael Grossi on the defense of the "rights of the Iranian nation".

The head of the UN agency will present the results of his visit during an IAEA Board of Governors scheduled for next week. 

Depending on the progress made, Washington, London, Berlin and Paris will decide whether or not to submit a motion for a resolution blaming Tehran for recent developments in its nuclear program.

Their concerns were recently reinforced by a confidential IAEA report, according to which particles of uranium enriched to 83.7%, slightly less than the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb, were recently detected in the Fordo underground factory, a hundred kilometers south of the capital Tehran.

"Involuntary Fluctuations"

Iran, which denies wanting to acquire nuclear weapons, justified itself by citing "involuntary fluctuations" during the enrichment process and by assuring "not to have made any attempt to enrich beyond 60%", as Mohammad Eslami repeated on Saturday.

France nevertheless judged Thursday that it was "an unprecedented and extremely serious development". 

Rafael Grossi did not specify whether he had obtained enhanced access to the Fordo site and an increase in the number of IAEA inspections permitted by the Iranian government.

He further indicated that discussions were continuing to resolve the dispute with Tehran over the discovery last year of traces of enriched uranium at three undeclared sites.

Iran had been the subject of a call to order at the last IAEA meeting, in November 2022, for its lack of cooperation on this issue.

In addition, Westerners are concerned about the fact that Iran continues to enrich at high levels, far from the limit set by the agreement at 3.67%: it thus has 434.7 kg of uranium at 20 % (against 386.4 kg previously) and from 87.5 kg to 60% (against 62.3 kg).

With AFP

The summary of the

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

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app