Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said inspectors will visit Iran’s uranium enrichment sites under the interim US-Iran deal signed last week, even as an Iranian diplomat said any such access would come only after a final agreement.
The differing statements are the latest public disagreement between Washington and Tehran over what the memorandum of understanding means. Both sides have agreed to a 60-day period to work out the details in private, but the conflicting public positions have raised questions over the deal and the ceasefire in the region.
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International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi spoke on Wednesday at a news conference at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Acknowledging the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, he said the agreement signed by the two presidents was clear on the IAEA’s role.
“I can understand political statements, they are part of the reality, but the fundamental thing I would like to remind you and draw your attention to is that there has been a Memorandum of Understanding, signed by both presidents,” Grossi said.
He said the accord “says explicitly that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with regards to the nuclear material facilities will be supervised by the IAEA – in all letters”. Grossi added: “Obviously, to do that, we will have to inspect. Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it’s important, but not essential. This is going to happen.”
The inspections are central to the deal, which calls for Iran’s stockpile of uranium to be diluted from highly enriched levels. The IAEA is seen as key to establishing the status of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
Since Israel’s 12-day war on Iran in 2025, Tehran has blocked the IAEA from visiting enrichment sites where Iran is believed to store enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build as many as 10 nuclear weapons if it chose to do so. Iran has long said its programme is peaceful, though it is the only country to have uranium enriched up to 60 per cent purity without a weapons programme.
The IAEA has been allowed to visit other sites in Iran since the war, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant. But without access to the enrichment sites, the agency says it cannot verify the status of Iran’s stockpile or inspect the cascades of centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Iran and the IAEA both say Tehran has not been enriching uranium, but non-proliferation experts are concerned that the stockpile could be moved to undeclared locations.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, pushed back after Grossi’s remarks and said Tehran did not meet him while in Switzerland. “These issues will be reviewed and decided only within the framework of a final agreement and as a result of practical action by the other side to end all sanctions and other measures,” Gharibabadi wrote on X. He added: “You cannot advance the stir up and take over’ policy with media hype.”
The US and Iran agreed last week that Tehran would dilute its enriched uranium stockpile, while US-backed sanctions on Iranian oil would be waived. The two sides were also given 60 days to negotiate wider agreements.
The regional ceasefire has already come under strain. Iran said it had closed the strait again amid fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Wednesday, Israel carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon that killed two people, according to the country’s state-run news agency. It was Israel’s first airstrike on Lebanon since the latest ceasefire took effect on Saturday.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the US had not asked Israel to pull out of Lebanon. “We are not withdrawing, and as of this moment — and this is a diplomatic achievement — there is no American demand for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon,” he said. Hezbollah has said it will not stop attacks unless Israel commits to a withdrawal. Lebanese and Israeli officials are meeting in Washington this week as part of direct talks, with Lebanon hoping for a plan on an Israeli withdrawal.
Technical-level talks between the US and Iran are expected to resume early next week at the Brgenstock resort in Switzerland, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Pakistan has been a key mediator.
Grossi’s comments came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a three-nation tour of the Gulf. He held a closed-door meeting and private working lunch in Abu Dhabi with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the US State Department said. A photograph later released by the department showed Michael Boulos, husband of President Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany, at the meeting. Boulos’ father is an adviser to Trump and is working on the Sudan war.
Rubio then travelled to Kuwait, where the Trump administration announced the limited reopening of the US Embassy more than three months after it was shut at the height of the Iran war. He attended a ceremonial flag-raising at the embassy compound in Kuwait City and is due to travel to Bahrain later. The main issue remains whether IAEA inspectors will be allowed into Iran’s enrichment sites as the US and Iran try to turn their interim deal into a final agreement.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
