VIENNA, February 13. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran may reach an agreement on inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities in the coming days, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.
"We have returned to Iran (after last year’s strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities - TASS). <...> We were able to work again, to establish some form of dialogue - imperfect, complicated and extremely difficult - but it is there. So I think the big question of the moment is how to define these steps for the future. We know perfectly well what needs to be checked and how to check it. I would say we are at a very, very crucial moment. Perhaps, over the next few days, as opposed to weeks or months, we might be seeing light at the end of the tunnel," he pointed out at the Munich Security Conference, when asked about the possibility of a new agreement on nuclear inspections.
Overnight into June 13, Israel launched a military operation against Iran. Less than 24 hours later, Tehran retaliated. Nine days later, in the early hours of June 22, US jets targeted three Iranian nuclear sites, effectively entering the conflict. The following evening, Tehran carried out a missile strike on Al Udeid, the largest US military base in the region, located in Qatar. US President Donald Trump later announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a complete ceasefire. The truce took effect on June 24.
Iran severed contact with the IAEA due to a lack of condemnation from the agency against Israel and the US. On September 9, Iran and the IAEA signed an agreement to resume cooperation. On September 20, however, Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA over a resolution demanding the country provide the agency’s inspectors with full access to its nuclear sites.