IAEA chief says had ‘substantive’ talk with Iran’s rights chief ahead of trip to Tehran

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi says he had “timely and substantive” talks with Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi before his upcoming trip to Tehran.

Grossi said in a post on X on Thursday that in preparation to his upcoming visit to the Iranian capital he had a “timely and substantive exchange” with Gharibabadi, who also serves as Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs.

Earlier, Grossi had said that he was prepared to engage with Iran’s 14th administration to resolve the remaining safeguard issues.

“After the presidential election in Iran, I corresponded with President [Masoud] Pezeshkian and expressed my willingness to meet with him in Tehran to resume dialogue and cooperation between the Agency and Iran,” Grossi said at the last IAEA Board of Governors meeting held in September.

The IAEA chief also noted at the time that the Iranian president agreed to meet with him at an appropriate time, expressing hope that this meeting would take place soon and before the US presidential election.

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.

IAEA chief Grossi visits exhibition of Iran’s civil nuclear achievements, hails progress

The IAEA chief has visited Iran’s achievements in the nuclear industry during an exhibition in Vienna.

On the sidelines of the 68th Regular Session of the General Conference of the IAEA at the organization’s headquarters in the Austrian capital of Vienna in September, Grossi also told Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, that he would soon be heading to Tehran for “important political and technical meetings.”

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.

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