The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday that Iran has not formally suspended cooperation with inspectors, despite contradictory signals from Tehran.
“Well, we haven't heard of any official communication to that effect,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told PBS.
“We know that, in Iran, there are different voices, sometimes in parliament, sometimes politicians, sometimes indicating that they suspend or that they want to suspend. At the same time, there are obligations, because they are party to the nonproliferation treaty. So all of this needs to be clarified. But, for the moment, there is no suspension as such.”
Grossi said the IAEA was still operating under a framework agreed in Cairo this month to resume inspections after US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Inspectors, he said, would begin by reviewing Iranian reports before conducting visits to facilities including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
He added that cooperation was incomplete, particularly regarding enriched uranium stockpiles, which he said were likely still intact underground.
“Have we gotten everything we want? Not yet. Have we checked on the material? Not yet, but we are working on that,” he said.
Grossi stressed that inspections must continue despite political disputes and security threats. “We cannot afford to have another crisis in the Middle East at this point. We have to avert it. We have to move to a durable, sustainable situation that, in my view, only goes through diplomacy,” he said.
