CAIRO, December 19. /TASS/. Russia calls on Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi to maintain an unbiased professional opinion of Iran’s nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.

"We call on [IAEA] Director General Gross, who pushes for restoring contacts with Tehran, to strictly adhere to the founding mission of the IAEA Secretariat, including the neutral, unbiased professional nature of assessments being presented and the broader activity of this organization," Russia’s top diplomat said.

According to Lavrov, the pause in relations between Iran and the IAEA "is not Tehran’s fault."

Lavrov expressed his appreciation of Egypt’s mediation in restoring relations between the Islamic Republic and the global nuclear watchdog that "fell off after the Israeli and US aggression." Iran, whose nuclear infrastructure was targeted, was under IAEA monitoring then, the Russian foreign minister recalled.