inspectors

There is no final agreement between the IAEA and Iran yet, says Iranian foreign minister, but talks will continue.

Iran says the return of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) does not mark the resumption of full cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

Inspectors from the IAEA have entered Iran with the consent of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

“No final text has yet been approved on the new cooperation framework with the IAEA and views are being exchanged,” Abbas Araghchi said, in comments cited by the state broadcaster.

He noted that “the changing of the fuel of Bushehr nuclear reactor has to be done under the supervision of inspectors of the international agency”, the state news agency ICANA reported.

Iran suspended cooperation with the agency following a 12-day war with Israel in June, with Tehran pointing to the IAEA’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities. Bushehr was not targeted in the attacks.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi confirmed on Tuesday that a team of inspectors was “back in Iran”.

“When it comes to Iran, as you know, there are many facilities. Some were attacked, some were not,” Grossi told Fox News in an interview aired on Tuesday.

“So we are discussing what kind of … practical modalities can be implemented in order to facilitate the restart of our work there.”

The announcement comes after Iran held talks with the United Kingdom, France and Germany in Geneva on Tuesday, with Tehran seeking to avert the so-called snapback sanctions European powers have threatened to reimpose under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei warned Europe’s top three powers that reimposing sanctions on the country will have consequences.

The UK, France and Germany – parties to the 2015 deal – have threatened to trigger the accord’s “snapback mechanism” by the end of August.

Both sides will continue nuclear talks in the coming days.

Tuesday’s meeting was the second round of talks with European diplomats since the end of the June war, which began with an unprecedented Israeli surprise attack targeting senior military officials and nuclear facilities.

The conflict derailed Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the United States.

Israel says it launched the attacks to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon – an ambition Tehran has repeatedly denied, insisting its programme is solely for civilian purposes such as energy production.

Under the JCPOA, Iran committed to regular inspections of its nuclear energy programme in return for relief on some Western sanctions. The nuclear deal was torpedoed in 2018 when Donald Trump, during his first term as president, unilaterally withdrew the US and slapped harsh sanctions on Iran.

July 4 (UPI) — U.N. nuclear inspectors on Friday departed from Iran two days after the Middle Eastern nation suspended cooperation with the program and weeks after the United States and Israel bombed nuclear sites.

Rafael Grossi, the inspector general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had aimed to assess the uranium-enrichment facilities and see whether alleged nuclear bomb efforts had been set back.

IAEA hasn’t reported the inspectors findings.

They remained in the capital, Tehran, during the conflict between Israel and Iran.

“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the U.N. agency posted Friday on X.

“IAEA Director General rafaelmgrossi reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible.”

On Wednesday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed legislation that halts cooperation with the agency, blocking oversight of Iran’s nuclear program.

Inspectors will not be allowed to visit nuclear sites without approval from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iranian lawmakers gave two conditions for resuming cooperation, according to state media. The safety of its nuclear program and scientists is secured, and an acknowledgment about its right under international law to enrich uranium.

The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Iranian law was “obviously concerning.”

“I think the secretary-general has been very consistent in his call for Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, and, frankly, for all countries to work closely with the IAEA on nuclear issues,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Iran has been critical of a resolution on June 12 by the IAEA that accused Iran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.

This was one day before Israel attacked.

Iran and the United States had been engaged in talks for a nuclear deal. The U.S. used B-2 bombers to send missiles deep underground.

“We are for diplomacy,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, told NBC News on Thursday, adding the U.S. government needs “to convince us that they are not going to use military force while we are negotiating. That is an essential element for our leadership to be in a position to decide about the future round of talks.”

President Donald Trump, who doesn’t want Iran to be enriching uranium, said that the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites “obliterated” the program.

Grossi earlier said that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains unaccounted for, and the program may have been delayed only a few months, and not years.

“It can be, you know, described in different ways, but it’s clear that what happened in particular in Fordo, Natanz, Isfahan, where Iran used to have and still has, to some degree, capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree,” Grossi said in a CBS News interview on Saturday. “Some is still standing. So there is, of course, an important setback in terms of those of those capabilities.”

Iran has contended its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes but the agency reported in May that Iran stockpiled about 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity, enough to build nine bomb. That’s up 50% since February.

In December, the IAEA said Iran was rapidly moving closer to the 90% threshold needed for weapons-grade material.

In 2018, Trump unilaterally exited the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and reimposed harsh sanctions during his first term in office.

In 2015, Iran reached a deal with the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China and the European Union.

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‘At risk of avoidable harm’

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