UN atomic watchdog to visit Tehran for access to key sites

BERLIN: The head of the UN’S atomic watchdog agency will head to Tehran next week to press authorities for access to sites where Iran is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material, the organisation said on Saturday.

It will be the first visit to Iran of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi since he took office last December, and comes amid intense international pressure on the country over its nuclear programme. The focus will be on access to sites thought to be from the early 2000s, before Iran signed the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran maintains the IAEA inspectors have no legal basis to inspect the sites.

“My objective is that my meetings in Tehran will lead to concrete progress in addressing the outstanding questions that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the issue of access,” Grossi said in a statement.

“I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian government.” This visit comes as France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China struggle to keep alive a nuclear deal with Iran, which US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled America out of in 2018.