VIENNA, March 6. /TASS/. Tehran agrees to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to continue its monitoring and verification measures at Iran’s nuclear facilities, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Monday ahead of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors.
"Following my discussions with Vice-President [ and head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad] Eslami in Tehran on Saturday, I note Iran’s agreement to allow the Agency to proceed with further monitoring and verification measures indispensable to the Agency fulfilling its mission," he said. "Achieving this will be very important because it would allow the Agency to begin to establish a new baseline necessary in the event of a resumption of Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA."
According to Grossi, in January Iran significantly changed the declared data on the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) without notifying the IAEA. "This was contrary to Iran’s obligations under its Safeguards Agreement. Following discussions between Iran and Agency officials, Iran has since confirmed that it will facilitate the further increase in the frequency and intensity of Agency verification activities at FFEP, as notified by the Agency," he said.
"I welcome Iran’s high-level assurances that it is willing to implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities, and to cooperate with the Agency to resolve the outstanding safeguards issues, including those pertaining to the three undeclared locations in which the Agency found traces of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin. In the spirit of the joint statement, I look forward promptly to engaging in technical follow-up discussions with Iran, as we have agreed. There is important work ahead of us," the IAEA chief stressed.
Grossi arrived in Tehran on Friday. During his stay in Tehran, Grossi held two rounds of talks with Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami and met with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. On Saturday, he held talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. During these talks, Grossi expressed satisfaction with joint measures that had been worked out during his visit. The measures, in his words, are geared to establish cooperation between the IAEA and Iran.
On Saturday, the IAEA and the AEOI issued a joint statement noting Iran’s intention to allow the IAEA to carry out its monitoring and verification activities and Tehran’s readiness to grant access to three nuclear facilities.
Later in the day, Grossi told a news conference in Vienna that Iran is ready to mount cameras and other monitoring equipment at nuclear facilities.
However, AEOI Spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi told the IRNA news agency on Sunday that the issue of equipping Iranian nuclear facilities with surveillance cameras had not been discussed during Grossi’s visit to Tehran.