The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday that its new deal with Iran covers inspections at all of the country’s declared nuclear sites, including those hit by Israeli and US strikes in June, in what he called a step in the right direction toward restoring safeguards.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told member states in Vienna that the technical document signed in Cairo on Tuesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sets out procedures for inspections, notifications, and reporting obligations.
“This includes all facilities and installations in Iran, and it also contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked facilities, including the nuclear material present at those,” Grossi said.
Grossi acknowledged the challenges posed by the aftermath of June’s Israeli and US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which forced the withdrawal of inspectors for safety reasons.
“Safeguards approaches to each facility will be reviewed at technical level, always in line with the rights and obligations of Iran and the agency under the NPT safeguards agreement, which are not modified or amended as a result of these practical steps,” he said.
“Resuming this indispensable work would not be an automatic or simple bureaucratic process,” he said, adding that Iran’s parliament had since adopted a law suspending cooperation, creating the risk of non-compliance with safeguards obligations.
But he pointed to what he called “Iran’s declared willingness not to leave the NPT and to continue working inside the international nonproliferation regime” as a positive signal.
Grossi said the new arrangement reflected both Iran’s concerns and the agency’s technical requirements. “Iran and the agency will now resume cooperation in a respectful and comprehensive way,” he told diplomats.
He said the talks were aimed at finding ways to reconcile Iran’s new legislation with its binding treaty obligations, adding: “This required dialogue and a thorough understanding of the situation and Iran’s specific views.”
"Iran expressed concerns, and it is our duty as an international organization to listen to those and find ways and means to address them in a form which would reconcile these important parameters, Iran's new law and the existing legal obligations emanating from the NPT safeguards agreement”
While he cautioned that “there may be difficulties and issues to be resolved,” he underlined the broader importance of the agreement.
“It is my sincere hope that the resumption of our inspection activity in Iran may serve as a good sign, as a reference, an indication that agreements and understandings are possible,” Grossi said.
Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA following the June attacks, and last month Britain, France and Germany triggered a UN “snapback” process to restore sanctions unless inspections resumed and Iran provided clarity on its enriched uranium stockpile.
Araghchi, speaking in Cairo on Tuesday, said the agreement created “a practical mechanism for cooperation” but warned that Iran would void it if hostile measures, including renewed UN sanctions, were imposed.
Diplomats say whether the new steps will be sufficient to head off European sanctions will depend on how quickly inspectors can resume work and whether Tehran provides full accounting of its highly enriched uranium.
