‘War of words’ won’t stop Iran nuclear inspections, says IAEA
The international nuclear watchdog responsible for verifying Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium dismissed the conflicting signals from Tehran and Washington overnight and said it expects to resume full monitoring at some stage. “There’s a war of words here,” said International Atomic Energy
By Bloomberg
The international nuclear watchdog responsible for verifying Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium dismissed the conflicting signals from Tehran and Washington overnight and said it expects to resume full monitoring at some stage.
“There’s a war of words here,” said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi, referring to White House statements about monitoring that were disputed by Iran.
In Washington on Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened to halt peace talks if Iran refused to allow IAEA inspections of its nuclear sites.
Around the same time, Iran’s foreign ministry said there were no immediate plans for visits by scientists from the United Nations organisation.
The back-and-forth comments underscore the challenges facing American and Iranian negotiators as they press towards a permanent peace deal.
Their 60-day window, which can be extended by mutual consent, is set to expire around mid-August.
The main part of the talks, which follow Washington and Tehran signing an interim agreement last week, is meant to focus on imposing a moratorium on Iran enriching any more uranium for at least a decade.
The IAEA wants access to nuclear sites bombed by the US and Israel in June 2025 and where 441kg (972 pounds) of highly enriched uranium and almost 8,600kg of lower enriched material was last seen.
The US, Israel and some other governments fear Iran might use the stockpiles to build an atomic weapon.
Tehran has always denied wanting to do that, but has enriched uranium to far beyond what is needed for fuelling nuclear power plants and other civilian purposes.
While monitors have recently visited Iranian sites undamaged in this year’s war, such as a nuclear power plant at Bushehr, they have not been able to verify the state or location of Iran’s enriched uranium.
That led the IAEA’s board to censure Tehran earlier this month.
“We will obviously have to inspect,” Grossi said during a trip to Japan on Wednesday. “This is going to happen.”
The question is when.
Before the IAEA can return to sites in Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz – where most of Iran’s uranium inventory was last known to be stored – Tehran must submit a report detailing whether any nuclear material was lost or damaged in US-Israeli strikes.
The filing, known as an Article 68 report, was expected last year but Iran has yet to submit it.
Grossi said that when that happens, the agency can begin discussing “modalities, dates, procedures and places” for inspections.
“Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it’s important, but not essential,” he said.
The highly-technical rules for nuclear safeguards mean Iran can commit to an eventual resumption of inspections while still denying the IAEA immediate access to bombed facilities, according to Tariq Rauf, the organisation’s former head of verification policy.
“Iran is committed to inspections as long as it’s a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he said, referring to an accord that seeks to prevent the global spread of nuclear weapons. “But it will take time.”