IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that the scheduled talks between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Tehran have been postponed due to the tragic helicopter crash and the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
“They are in a mourning period which I need to respect,” he told Reuters. “But once this is over, we are going to be engaging again,” Grossi added. He expressed hope that it was a “temporary interruption that I hope will be over in a matter of days.”
The director general of the IAEA paid a visit to Iran on May 6-7. He conducted discussions with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Mohammad Eslami, the chief of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, and Ali Bagheri Kani, the Deputy Foreign Minister and head of Iran’s delegation in the nuclear deal negotiations. Grossi put forward a series of practical steps to implement the joint statement of Iran and the IAEA dated March 4, 2023, which indicates Tehran’s willingness to permit the agency to conduct monitoring activities and grant access to three nuclear facilities.
The document also says that “··interactions between the IAEA and Iran will be carried out in a spirit of collaboration, and in full conformity with the competences of the IAEA and the rights and obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Eslami characterized the discussions with Grossi as positive and confirmed that both sides had agreed to use the March declaration as a starting point for upcoming talks. The head of the IAEA, on the other hand, mentioned that Iran had given him assurances of its willingness to implement certain actions regarding the supervision of its nuclear activities. Grossi also expressed his dissatisfaction with the present status of negotiations with Tehran.