IAEA: Without Tehran’s Commitment, There Will Be No Agreement

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files
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IAEA: Without Tehran’s Commitment, There Will Be No Agreement

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference during a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/Files

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, stressed that without the commitment of Tehran and the cooperation of all parties, no agreement would be reached in the Vienna talks.

He added that the IAEA was intensifying its efforts to support reaching an agreement and to ensure its implementation, noting that talks were moving in the right direction despite the difficult challenges.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya channel on Saturday, Grossi said that reaching an agreement within days was complicated, but not impossible, adding that the next few days would clarify where the current efforts would lead.

The difficulties persist and exist, but the parties should work on solving them one by one, according to the IAEA chief.

Grossi pointed out that the agency was concerned about the presence of undeclared nuclear materials in Iranian sites. He called on Iran to cooperate and allow full access to the monitoring and surveillance equipment on Iranian nuclear facilities, stressing that without the commitment of the Iranian authorities and the cooperation of all parties, there would be no agreement.

The United States, as well as diplomats from key countries, including France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China, have repeatedly warned Tehran that time was running out, and that the next few weeks would be crucial in reviving the agreement that was abandoned in 2018 by the former US administration of Donald Trump.

However, the Iranian authorities are still insisting on some conditions that constitute a major obstacle to reaching a solution, including the request to provide guarantees that the US administration would not withdraw from any new agreement, as well as the lifting of all sanctions imposed on the country, especially those related to terrorism.

For his part, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Saturday that Tehran had the right to continue nuclear research and development, adding that this matter could not be restricted by any agreement.

Shamkhani wrote on his Twitter account: “Iran’s legal right to continue research and development and to maintain its peaceful nuclear capabilities and achievements, along with its security against supported evils, cannot be restricted by any agreement.”

He added: “Real, effective and verifiable economic benefit for Iran is a necessary condition for the formation of an agreement. The show of lifting sanctions is not considered constructive.”



Hegseth Says the Pentagon Has Given Trump Possible Options for Israel-Iran Conflict

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Hegseth Says the Pentagon Has Given Trump Possible Options for Israel-Iran Conflict

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the Pentagon was providing possible options to President Donald Trump as he decides next steps on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes, an action that could risk dragging America into a wider war in the Middle East.

Hegseth was on Capitol Hill for the last of his series of often combative hearings before lawmakers, who have pressed him on everything including his use of a Signal chat to share sensitive military plans earlier this year.

In questioning before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth said "maximum force protection" was being provided for US troops in the Middle East and that it is Trump’s decision whether to provide Israel a "bunker buster" bomb to strike at the core of Iran's nuclear program, which would require US pilots flying a B-2 stealth bomber. He would not indicate what the US may do next.

"My job — our job, the chairman and I — at all times is to make sure the president has options and is informed of what those options might be and what the ramifications of those options might be," Hegseth said, referring to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was testifying alongside him.

The US has shifted significant numbers of refueling tanker and fighter aircraft to position them to be able to respond to the escalating conflict, such as supporting possible evacuations, or airstrikes. Hegseth said this week that was done to protect US personnel and airbases.

Hegseth's testimony last week in three congressional hearings also was taken over by events, with the Trump administration dispatching the National Guard and 700 active-duty Marines to the protests in Los Angeles against California Gov. Gavin Newsom's wishes. It came just ahead of a massive military parade to celebrate the Army's 250th birthday, which coincided with President Donald Trump's birthday.

In the previous hearings — where Hegseth appeared to discuss the Pentagon's spending plan — lawmakers made it clear they are unhappy that Hegseth has not provided full details on the administration’s first proposed defense budget.

Trump has said it would total $1 trillion, a significant increase over the current spending level of more than $800 billion.

Hegseth, who is appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, has spent vast amounts of time during his first months in office promoting the social changes he’s making at the Pentagon. He’s been far less visible in the administration’s more critical international security crises and negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Iran.