Iran Says Talks with IAEA's Grossi 'Positive'

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami (not pictured) in Isfahan, Iran, May 7, 2024. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami (not pictured) in Isfahan, Iran, May 7, 2024. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
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Iran Says Talks with IAEA's Grossi 'Positive'

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami (not pictured) in Isfahan, Iran, May 7, 2024. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami (not pictured) in Isfahan, Iran, May 7, 2024. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

Talks between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have been positive and productive, Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said on Tuesday in a joint news conference with the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in the Iranian city of Isfahan.
Grossi flew to Iran on Monday hoping to bolster oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency of Tehran's atomic activities after various setbacks, but analysts and diplomats say he has limited leverage and must be wary of empty promises.
In 2023, Tehran gave sweeping assurances to the UN nuclear watchdog that it will assist a long-stalled investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites and re-install removed monitoring equipment. But little came of those assurances, IAEA reports to member states show.
"We continue interactions over unresolved issues, including issues regarding two sites," Eslami said in the televised news conference, according to Reuters.
Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the around 90% of weapons grade. If that material were enriched further, it would suffice for two nuclear weapons, according to an official IAEA yardstick.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but no other state has enriched to that level without producing them.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.