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Iran to host UN nuclear watchdog chief

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TEHRAN: UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi was to open talks in Iran on the eve of Tehran’s deadline for US sanctions to be lifted, as President Joe Biden called for “careful diplomacy”.


The deadline, set by Iranian lawmakers, carries the threat of a suspension of some nuclear inspections, stoking international concern about a possible expulsion of UN inspectors.


But Iran has stressed it will not cease working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or expel its inspectors.


The visit of the UN body’s chief is due to run into Sunday. Iran and the IAEA have not announced what time he’s due in Tehran.


Grossi will “meet with senior Iranian officials to find a mutually agreeable solution, compatible with Iranian law, so that the @iaeaorg can continue essential verification activities in Iran”, he wrote Friday on Twitter.


“Looking forward to success — this is in everybody’s interest,” he added.


Iran has notified the IAEA that it will suspend “voluntary transparency measures”, notably inspection visits to non-nuclear sites, including military sites suspected of nuclear-related activity, if the United States has not lifted the sweeping sanctions former president Donald Trump reimposed in 2018.


The new measures, laid out in a law passed by the conservative-dominated parliament in December, are to go into effect on Tuesday, the head of Iran’s atomic body, Ali Akbar Salehi, confirmed on Saturday.


As Iran implements the law and “the other side has not yet fulfilled its obligations to lift the sanctions, inspections beyond safeguard measures will be suspended”, state television quoted Salehi as saying on its website.


He added that “during tomorrow’s (Sunday) meeting with Mr Grossi, the IAEA’s considerations in the framework of the safeguards agreement and bilateral cooperation will be reviewed and discussed”.


The visit comes in the wake of Biden’s call on Friday for European powers to work together to curb Iran’s “destabilising” activities, a day after committing to rejoin talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.


Biden told the Munich Security Conference that the United States would work closely with allies in dealing with Iran after his predecessor Trump took an aggressive unilateral approach. — AFP


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