Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has visited Iran’s achievements in the nuclear industry, saying the Islamic Republic has made major strides in various sectors of the science.
Iran has made significant progress in various fields of the nuclear industry, including radiopharmaceuticals, stable isotopes as well as agricultural and medical industries, which are on display, Grossi was quoted as saying on Wednesday as he visited Iran’s pavilion on the sidelines of the 68th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Austrian capital Vienna, IRIB reported.
He also expressed hope that Iran will continue to make further nuclear achievements
Grossi to visit Iran soon: AEOI spox
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, says the IAEA chief is set to visit Tehran sometime in the near future, but said no specific date has been fixed for his trip yet.
Kamalvandi expressed hope that Grossi’s visit would yield positive results for Iran, serve its national interests and resolve the outstanding safeguards issues between Tehran and the UN nuclear agency.
“We hope we will be able to move towards settlement of the existing issues. It seems as if the status quo can improve relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the future,” the AEOI spokesman pointed out.
Iran has stepped up nuclear work since 2019, after former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), clinched under his predecessor Barack Obama.
Tehran started to reduce its commitments under the JCPOA in a series of pre-announced and clear steps after witnessing the other parties' failure to secure its interests under the agreement.
Iran says it will continue to cooperate with the IAEA to resolve disputed issues surrounding its nuclear program, rejecting media reports and statements by Western government officials suggesting Tehran is not willing to cooperate with the UN nuclear agency because it has not benefited from the JCPOA.