IAEA chief warns of inspection curbs limiting Iran monitoring

VIENNA - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog warned Wednesday his inspectors are close to being unable to “guarantee” they know the size of Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, a stark alarm after his trip to Tehran produced no results.

Rafael Mariano Grossi's words sharply contrasted with the optimistic tone his Iranian hosts offered the day before. They signal the Islamic Republic's harder line as renewed talks over Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers resume next week.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors remain unable to access surveillance footage and face greater challenges in trying to monitor Tehran’s rapidly growing uranium stockpile, some of which is now enriched up to 60% purity — a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

“Our negotiations have been inconclusive, meaning that we could not finish,” Grossi told reporters in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, after addressing the agency's board of governors. “I'm not giving up on trying to find some understanding, but in terms of what we were discussing yesterday, we could not conclude an agreement.”

Pressed on whether any progress had been made, Grossi said that “in terms of the substance, no, quite clearly, we were not able to make progress." However, he said that having got to know the new Iranian officials was “a positive element” and “this will certainly help.”

But he warned: “We are close to the point where I would not be able to guarantee continuity of knowledge.” He did not elaborate.

On Tuesday, Grossi went to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s civilian nuclear agency, and met its new head, Mohammad Eslami. He also met Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who said Iran was determined to have “constructive engagement” with the IAEA to “improve mutual trust and cooperation,” according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Under a confidential agreement called an “Additional Protocol” with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyzes images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites. Those cameras helped it monitor Tehran’s program to see if it is complying with the nuclear deal.

Iran’s hard-line parliament in December 2020 approved a bill that would suspend part of U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February. Since February, the IAEA has been unable to access imagery from the surveillance cameras.

Under the deal, the IAEA also placed around 2,000 tamper-proof seals on nuclear material and equipment. Those seals communicated electronically to inspectors. Automated measuring devices also provided real-time data from the program. Inspectors haven’t been able to access that data either, making the task of monitoring Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile that much more difficult.

The agency also has sought monitoring of activities at a centrifuge parts production site near northern city of Karaj. The IAEA has had no access there since June after Iran said a sabotage attack by Israel considerably damaged the facility and an IAEA camera there.

Grossi on Wednesday insisted that, despite this week's lack of progress, a solution has to be found. “We must reach an agreement,” he said. “We must do it.”

Senior diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia plan to meet Iranian officials in Vienna on November 29 to discuss bringing Tehran back into compliance with the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which eased sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program. The talks could pave the way for the U.S. to rejoin the accord.

The United States pulled out under former President Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to abandon all the limits the deal placed on it. That has raised tensions across the wider Mideast as Israel has warned it won't allow Iran to be able to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Iran long has insisted its program is peaceful, though the IAEA and US intelligence agencies say Tehran had an organized weapons program up until 2003.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, a deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator for Iran, Ali Bagheri Kani, travelled to the United Arab Emirates and met with a prominent Emirati diplomat, Anwar Gargash. The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency described the meeting as dealing with “regional and international developments of common interest.”