The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will be in Iran on Wednesday
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is expected to visit Iran on Wednesday night, the official IRNA news agency announced. The head of the UN agency. “He will arrive on Wednesday at the official invitation of the Islamic Republic of Iran”he said, and meetings with senior Iranian officials will take place on Thursday.
His visit will take place after Donald Trump’s new victory in the US presidential elections. During his first term, the United States withdrew in 2018 from an international agreement that was supposed to regulate Iran’s atomic activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. All attempts in recent years have failed to reactivate the agreement signed in 2015 with the European E3 countries (France, United Kingdom, Germany), the United States, Russia and China.
Iran’s nuclear program has continued to gain momentum since then, although Tehran denies wanting to acquire an atomic bomb. According to the IAEA, the Islamic Republic has significantly increased its reserves of enriched materials to 60%, close to the 90% needed to develop an atomic weapon. But since new reformist President Massoud Pezeshkian took power in August, Tehran has expressed its desire to relaunch negotiations to revive the agreement.
Rafael Grossi’s last visit to Iran dates back to May. Then he asked for measures “concrete” to help strengthen cooperation on Iran’s nuclear program during a press conference in Isfahan province, where the Natanz uranium enrichment plant is located. In late September, he stated that Iran appeared willing to resume nuclear energy negotiations but was currently refusing the return to its facilities of inspectors whose accreditation had been withdrawn.
