IAEA Chief to Visit Iran to Discuss NPT, Resume Political Talks

By Staff, Agencies

The International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] Director General Rafael Grossi announced that he is slated to visit Iran in February to assess the situation regarding nuclear non-proliferation and resume the political dialogue.

Grossi said on Tuesday he was going to visit Iran in February to assess the situation regarding the Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] and to resume the political dialogue, Sputnik reported.

"I believe I might be back in Tehran on this and on the other issues I described to you, in February perhaps, for much needed political dialogue… with Iran. And then, I hope to be making some progress," he told the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.

Iran had enough enriched uranium to create a nuclear bomb, the IAEA chief said, pointing however, that it did not mean that the weapon already existed.

Such comments come as Tehran has always proved that its nuclear program is completely peaceful, asserting that it is not after acquiring nuclear weapons at all.

The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Former US President Donald Trump illegally pulled out of the deal in 2018 while the current US President, Joe Biden, has signaled that he is ready to resurrect the agreement.

Russia, the UK, Germany, China, the US, and France have been in talks with Iran since April 2021 to reinstate the deal.

The talks to salvage the JCPOA kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.

The negotiations have been at a standstill since August due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions that were slapped on the Islamic Republic by the previous US administration. Iran maintains it is necessary for the other side to offer some guarantees that it will remain committed to any agreement that is reached.