AEOI![](\"http:\/\/www.petroleumworld.com\/images2021\/IAEA_grossi_iran_kamalvandi-600.jpg\")
Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, right, speaks with deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi upon his arrival at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport, Iran, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell \/ AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TEHRAN
Petroleumworld 11 23 2021
The head of the United Nations\u2019 atomic watchdog met Tuesday with Iranian officials to press for greater access in the Islamic Republic ahead of diplomatic talks restarting over Tehran\u2019s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency yet again faces tightrope-style talks with Iranian officials as his inspectors remain unable to access surveillance footage and face greater challenges in trying to monitor Tehran\u2019s rapidly growing uranium stockpile. In the wake of then-President Donald Trump\u2019s unilateral withdrawal from Iran\u2019s deal, the Islamic Republic now enriches small amounts of uranium up to 60% purity \u2014 its highest ever and close to weapons-grade levels of 90%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Iran maintains its program is peaceful, regional rival Israel has repeatedly warned it won\u2019t allow Tehran to build a nuclear weapon and is suspected of launching attacks targeting its program as part of a wider regional shadow war playing across the Mideast in recent years. The U.S. under President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has said it\u2019s willing to return to the deal, but has warned time is running out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All this raises the risk of a wider confrontation with Iran, which has taken a harder tack ahead of the talks under new President Ebrahim Raisi, a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writing on Twitter on Monday, Grossi said he hoped to \u201caddress outstanding questions\u201d with Iranian officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue so the (IAEA) can resume essential verification activities in the country,\u201d Grossi wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Grossi went to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country\u2019s civilian nuclear agency, for his third-such visit since February. He spoke with Mohammad Eslami, the new head of the organization. The U.N. in 2008 sanctioned Eslami for \u201cbeing engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran\u2019s proliferation sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After their talk, Eslami gave a news conference in which he described the ongoing issues as \u201ctechnical\u201d and not governed by the \u201cpolitical issues and conspiracies\u201d of Iran\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome parts are yet to be answered and some parts have to do with issues that have already been closed in the past,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have been addressed in the nuclear deal and have been closed. Today, we agreed to put an end to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eslami did not elaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grossi for his part described the talks as \u201cintense\u201d and was not as definitive as Eslami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are continuing at this point our negotiations with a view to finding common ground,\u201d Grossi said. He was due to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under a confidential agreement called an \u201cAdditional Protocol\u201d with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyzes images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites. Those cameras helped it monitor Tehran\u2019s program to see if it is complying with the nuclear deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s hard-line parliament in December 2020 approved a bill that would suspend part of U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February. Since February, the IAEA has been unable to access imagery from those cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the deal, the IAEA also placed around 2,000 tamper-proof seals on nuclear material and equipment. Those seals communicated electronically to inspectors. Automated measuring devices also provided real-time data from the program. Inspectors as well haven\u2019t been able to access that data, making the task of monitoring Iran\u2019s enriched uranium stockpile that much more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency also has sought monitoring of activities at a centrifuge parts production site near northern city of Karaj. The IAEA has had no access there since June after Iran said a sabotage attack by Israel considerably damaged the facility and an IAEA camera there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a separate report to IAEA member states earlier this month, the agency said Grossi also was concerned about inspectors \u201cbeing subjected to excessively invasive physical searches by security officials at nuclear facilities in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday\u2019s meeting comes ahead of a wider meeting of the IAEA member states. Iran avoided facing a censure vote at the board with a similar Grossi visit in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett described Iran\u2019s nuclear program as being in a \u201cvery advanced stage,\u201d without providing details. Ahead of the resumption of nuclear talks between global powers and Iran, Bennett said he expects \u201cdisagreement with our greatest of friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEither way, even with the return to an agreement, Israel is of course not part of the agreement. Israel is not bound by it,\u201d he told a security conference in Herzliya. \u201cWe will maintain our freedom to act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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