TEHRAN, Iran (AP) –
The UN chief of nuclear surveillance on Saturday arrived in Tehran ahead of Iran’s plan to partially suspend the agency’s inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Rafael Grossi will meet with Iranian nuclear officials, including Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the country’s nuclear department and vice president of President Hassan Rouhani.
Iran’s parliament passed a bill in December that would suspend part of the UN inspections of its nuclear facilities under a 2015 nuclear deal, if European signatories to the deal do not provide oil relief and bank sanctions by 23 February. It will also halt implementation of the additional protocol that allows IAEA inspectors to conduct more intrusive inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
After the 2015 agreement, Iran voluntarily agreed to implement the additional protocol.
Early Saturday, Salehi said he and Grossi will meet on Sunday to discuss the agency’s “concerns” about suspending inspections, as well as Iran’s cooperation with the agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday that the visit aimed to find “a mutually acceptable solution for the IAEA to continue essential verification activities in the country”.
The visit, the second in a six-month period, comes amid diplomatic efforts to keep the nuclear deal alive, which has been undone since the United States, under then President Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 .
In response to Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, the country has gradually begun to violate its atomic commitments under the nuclear deal. He also threatened further provocation in an attempt to increase his influence and get President Joe Biden to prioritize a return to the business as he moved to dismantle Trump’s legacy. Biden said the United States is interested in returning to the business.
The ultimate goal of the agreement is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something Iran insists it does not want to do.