The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Iran’s capital this week to meet with Iranian government officials, according to an agency press release.
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said in the release that holding technical discussions and making “substantive progress” in implementing the IAEA Joint Statement with Iran from March 2023 was “essential.”
In the Joint Statement, both parties agreed to further collaborating, as well as “verification and monitoring activities” involving Iran’s nuclear program, to resolve “outstanding safeguards issues.”
“My visit to Tehran will be very important in that regard,” Grossi said.
The meetings in Tehran will feature, and build upon, discussions with Iranian foreign minister S. Abbas Araghchi. Grossi and Araghchi had discussions at the UN General Assembly in September, IAEA said in its release.
During an April press conference in Vienna, Grossi said high-level relations between himself and the Iranian government were “not there at the level that we consider we should be.”
The IAEA director general said Iran is enriching uranium at an elevated rate to 60% purity, closer to the required purity of 90% for nuclear weapons than the 3.67% needed for nuclear power plants.
Under the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which then-President Donald Trump (R) abandoned in 2018, Iran could only enrich uranium up to 3.67%. Iran moved 27 times beyond these restrictions once the United States pulled out and re-imposed sanctions on the country. Trump won reelection to the presidency Nov. 5 and was scheduled to return to office on Jan. 20.
During his campaign, Trump reportedly said he was “open” to a new version of the agreement with Iran to mitigate the threat of Iran’s expanding nuclear weapons program. President Joe Biden’s (D) administration chose not to return to the 2015 Iran deal.