SAEDNEWS: Rafael Grossi said the impasse with Iran over inspections cannot continue indefinitely.
According to the Political Desk of the SaedNews news website, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Tuesday that the deadlock with Iran over inspections of high-purity enriched uranium stockpiles and inspections of nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel cannot continue indefinitely.
According to Tabnak, citing Tasnim, Grossi said in an interview with Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the IAEA has inspected 13 declared nuclear facilities in Iran that were not bombed, but has been unable to inspect any of the three key sites that were bombed in June (Natanz, Fordow, or Isfahan).
He went on to claim: This cannot go on forever, because at some point I will have to say, “Well, I have no idea where this material is,” which would mean there is no guarantee that the material has not been diverted or hidden.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog added: At present, I do not have such a belief or conclusion, but what we are telling Iran is that they must engage.
Grossi said he is exercising “diplomatic caution,” but Iran must fulfill its obligations as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Pointing out that NPT members do not have an “à la carte” option to choose which obligations they comply with, he said: This cannot continue in this way for long without, unfortunately, forcing me to declare them in non-compliance.
In response to a question about whether the issue could be resolved this spring, he said: “This is a reasonable time frame.”
One of the “real-world” realities Grossi said must be confronted is the impact of diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a broader agreement between Iran and the United States.
He said: “I cannot ignore it, and I hope that an understanding can be reached there without the imminent threat of new military activity or something similar.”
The IAEA said in November that it had inspected most of Iran’s nuclear facilities that were not hit in U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Grossi said that additional inspections were carried out from then until late December. Referring to recent unrest, he noted that inspections were nevertheless not possible during periods of civil disturbances.
He said Iranian officials had stated that the unrest had stopped. Grossi said: They said the situation is calm and they have control of things, and so on. If that is the case, shouldn’t we resume the inspections?
The Director General of the IAEA announced that within “a few days, a few weeks,” he will meet with Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
