There is confusion over whether inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will soon be granted access to Iran's nuclear programme, with the UN watchdog and Tehran offering sharply different accounts.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that agency inspectors would return to Iran's nuclear facilities, describing inspections as a clear component of the framework agreement signed by the United States and Iran last week.
"Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it’s important but not essential. This is going to happen," he told reporters at a press conference at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
Iran promptly contradicted this assessment.
One of Iran's key negotiators, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, wrote on X that Iran did not meet Grossi in Switzerland during the recent peace talks, despite Grossi's request for a meeting, and there are no plans for IAEA access to the nuclear facilities attacked in Iran or the nuclear material stored there.
These issues would be decided only as part of a final agreement between the US and Iran, he said.
The comments echoed remarks made a day earlier by Iranian officials.
On Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in Tehran that no inspections of war-damaged nuclear facilities by the IAEA were currently planned. These include facilities where near weapons-grade uranium is stored.
Also on Tuesday, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said that Tehran had not yet agreed to the dispatch of inspectors to monitor nuclear activities. Whether inspectors would travel to Iran again was the subject of talks by a working group that still had to meet, Bahreini said.
Grossi: Work on inspection details to begin soon
Grossi, commenting early on Wednesday, referred to the US-Iran framework agreement, according to which the uranium is to be diluted under IAEA supervision. He said this had been agreed by the heads of state of Iran and the US.
"Obviously, to do that, we will have to inspect," he said.
Work would begin shortly on the relevant timelines and procedures, he said. The inspections would be carried out in cooperation with the Iranian government, he stressed.
US Vice President JD Vance said at the end of his most recent talks with the Iranian side in Switzerland that Iran wanted to allow IAEA inspectors back into the country. There was no timetable for this yet, he added.
Iran has around 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium with a purity level of about 60%, according to the IAEA. Experts say several nuclear bombs could be built with this material if it were enriched to 90%. Tehran denies such plans and, in the framework agreement, again committed not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons.
