DUBAI (Reuters) – UN nuclear surveillance chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran on Monday, Iranian state television reported, while searching for inspectors at two supposed former atomic sites after a months-long confrontation between Tehran and the body.
Tehran said Grossi’s scale in “strengthening ties and building trust” between Tehran and the IAEA. However, on Saturday, Grossi said it would address “the notable factors, particularly the access factor.”
“As long as the IAEA acts on the basis of impartiality, independence and distances themselves from the country’s political tension, there will be no unrest between the IAEA and Tehran,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state television.
A senior Iranian nuclear official said Sunday that the IAEA sought access to “two places,” one near Tehran and the other near the central city of Isfahan.
Grossi comes after Washington pushed the UN Security Council last week to reimposing foreign sanctions on Tehran that were lifted as a component of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with global powers.
However, the Iranian government said Grossi’s scale is not similar to the US resolve to revoke all sanctions opposed to Iran, which the other parties to the agreement – Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany – did not support.
In 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement and re-imposed some sanctions that cried down Tehran’s economy. Iran retaliated by cutting compliance with the pact’s restrictions.
Khatibzadeh said Grossi will meet with senior Iranian officials during his visit, adding that the country’s foreign minister and nuclear chief.
(Written through Parisa Hafezi; Edited through Alex Richardson)
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