The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is due to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on March 4 on Saturday amid concerns over the discovery in Iran of particles of enriched uranium close to the level to manufacture an atomic bomb.
Arrived Friday for a two-day visit, Rafael Grossi hopes to create the conditions for cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Iranian nuclear issue.
A diplomatic source told AFP in Vienna that the head of the IAEA would meet Ebrahim Raïsi to
"relaunch the dialogue
" on the Iranian nuclear issue and
"relaunch the relationship at the highest level"
between the Agency and the Islamic Republic. .
A press conference between the head of the IAEA and Mohammad Eslami, director of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (OIEA), must also be held on Saturday during the day.
“An unprecedented and extremely serious development”
According to a confidential IAEA report consulted by AFP on Tuesday, particles of uranium enriched to 83.7%, just under the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb, were detected in the underground factory of Fordo, a hundred kilometers south of the capital Tehran.
Iran, which denies wanting to acquire nuclear weapons, justified itself by citing
"involuntary fluctuations"
during the enrichment process and by assuring
"not to have made any attempt to enrich beyond by 60%”
.
France judged Thursday that it was
“an unprecedented and extremely serious development”
.
Rafael Grossi will try to obtain
“reinforced access to the site
(of Fordo)
and to increase the number of
IAEA inspections” permitted by the Iranian government, the diplomatic source said.
An agreement, known by the acronym of JCPOA and concluded in 2015 in Vienna between Tehran and the major powers, was to limit Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against the country.
But this text has been moribund since the withdrawal of the United States decided in 2018 by President Donald Trump and the Islamic Republic has gradually freed itself from its commitments, with negotiations to relaunch it at a standstill.
The window of opportunity for an agreement (...) still exists but this window will not be there forever.
»
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian
Recently, concerns have grown steadily in the United States, Europe and some Middle Eastern countries such as Israel over Iran's advances toward atomic weapons control.
Thus, its total stock of enriched uranium amounted to 3,760.8 kg as of February 12 (against 3,673.7 kg in October), more than 18 times the limit authorized by the JCPOA, according to estimates by the IAEA.
Above all, Iran is always enriching at high levels, far from the limit set by the agreement at 3.67%: it thus has 434.7 kg of uranium at 20% (compared to 386.4 kg previously) and 87.5 kg at 60% (against 62.3 kg).
"The window of opportunity for an agreement (...) still exists but this window will not be there forever
," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Wednesday on CNN.
"There is hope that this visit will be the basis for greater cooperation and a clearer horizon between Iran and the IAEA
," said IAEA spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, shortly before welcoming Friday Rafael Grossi at Tehran airport.
