IAEA Urges Iran Nuclear Monitoring

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has called on Iran to take swift and concrete steps to improve the monitoring of its nuclear programme, on returning from two days of talks in Tehran.

"I want results and I want them soon," Grossi said at Vienna airport after discussions with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami in Iran. However, no concrete steps were agreed during Grossi's visit.

The IAEA and Iran reached an agreement in principle in March last year on inspections of nuclear facilities and the clarification of past nuclear activities that were kept secret.

But Tehran withdrew permission for some of the most experienced IAEA inspectors to work in Iran in September. The IAEA also was not authorized to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

"The present state is completely unsatisfactory for me," Grossi said in Vienna. He confirmed that Tehran is still insisting on linking cooperation with nuclear inspectors on the lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the West. Grossi said many political issues were involved.

He earlier called on Iran to take concrete steps to allow international monitoring of its nuclear programme after talks with Eslami in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

Grossi said that an agreement reached in March 2023 on checks on Iranian nuclear facilities was not being implemented fast enough.

Referring to the agreement, Grossi said there had been a "slowdown in its implementation." He called for "very concrete, very practical, tangible measures that can be implemented in order to accelerate the process."

Despite the 2023 agreement, Tehran in September withdrew permission for leading IAEA inspectors to work in Iran. In addition, the agency has not been authorized to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

Tehran has in recent years resumed enriching uranium to a level suitable for nuclear weapons.