The IAEA intensifies its mobility .. Iran is "testing" Washington's seriousness and is considering participating with it in a European meeting

Tehran announced that it is studying a proposal submitted by the European Union to participate in an informal meeting attended by the United States with the rest of the members of the nuclear agreement, while an Iranian official stressed that there is no meaning to any return to the agreement without verifying the seriousness of Washington.

Today, the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Raphael Grossi, will discuss with the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, the issue of cooperation between Iran and the Agency.

Grossi's visit comes just before the end of the Iranian deadline that it announced to stop the implementation of the Additional Protocol to the nuclear agreement, if the United States and Western countries do not return to their obligations to the agreement.

Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country is studying the European proposal to hold a meeting of the "4 + 1" group, with the participation of Washington and Tehran.

He added that Iran's stopping the implementation of the additional protocol is not a withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, but rather a reduction of its obligations, explaining that after stopping the implementation of the additional protocol, inspections will not stop, but they will decline by 30%.

Araghchi stressed that if Washington lifted all sanctions, Iran would backtrack on all steps to reduce commitments in the agreement, noting that Washington has no right to talk about the "5 + 1" group, and that the condition for its return to the group is lifting the sanctions.

It is noteworthy that the nuclear agreement concluded in 2015 aims mainly to lift many of the sanctions imposed on Iran, in exchange for reducing its nuclear activities and ensuring that it does not seek to develop a nuclear weapon.

But former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, which in turn responded by disavowing some of the obligations that the agreement entails.

Serious Washington

Iran's representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht Rawanji, said that there is no sense in any return to the nuclear agreement without verifying the seriousness of Washington's lifting of sanctions, stressing the need to provide guarantees for the return of oil revenues to Iran through the global banking system in the event that oil sanctions are lifted.

On the other hand, Washington said it has no plans to lift the sanctions before a dialogue with Europe.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested a way to overcome the impasse between his country and the United States over who would first start returning to the nuclear deal, saying that the European Union could "coordinate" the steps.

For his part, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabei said that the recent steps taken by Washington are small, which are insufficient signals about the goodwill of the new US administration.

Rabiei added in an article in "Iran" newspaper that the problems facing diplomatic moves regarding the implementation of the nuclear deal constitute a natural prelude to the return of all parties to their obligations, including the lifting of all sanctions in the near future.

Rabiei clarified that diplomatic initiatives may succeed in reaching positive results, and stressed that even if Washington returns to the agreement and lifts all sanctions, this will not compensate for the losses suffered by the Iranian people.

The first step

In the context, former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hans Blix, said that it is clear that all parties to the nuclear agreement want to return to work with it, but the obstacle is that Iran wants the United States to take the first step, while Washington wants Tehran to return to abide by the terms of the agreement before Lifting penalties.

Blix added in an interview with Al-Jazeera that removing this obstacle will enable progress to be made, through simultaneous steps to be reached, through the diplomatic effort, in which he said that Qatar could play a role.

And he considered that what the United States is talking about regarding the need to stop Iran's interference in the affairs of the region is an important matter, but it is not related to the nuclear agreement, stressing that what must be focused on now is commitment to the agreement, in order to preserve the stability of the Middle East region.