IAEA chief on Tehran visit: Iran, US ‘don’t have much time’ to reach nuclear deal
UN watchdog head Grossi says sides at ‘very crucial stage’; Iran says IAEA can play major role in resolving issues, reaches out to Russia for support in talks with US
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Thursday that Iran and the United States were running out of time to secure a deal as they prepare to hold fresh nuclear talks this weekend.
Iranian and US delegations are to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations, a week after the longtime foes held their highest-level talks since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.
“We are in a very crucial stage of these important negotiations. We know we don’t have much time, this is why I am here … to facilitate this process,” Grossi said on a visit to Tehran.
“We are working hard and we want to succeed,” he told a joint news conference with Iran’s atomic energy agency chief Mohammad Eslami, acknowledging that the search for a deal was “not an easy process.”
On Wednesday, Grossi met with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the first round of talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday.
Araghchi said he had a “useful” meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency chief.
“The IAEA can play a crucial role in [a] peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear file in the coming months,” he said, calling on the IAEA chief to “keep the agency away from politics” in the face of “spoilers” seeking to “derail current negotiations.” He did not elaborate.
‘Not far’ from possessing a bomb
Before heading to Iran, Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde that Tehran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.
Western governments have long accused Iran, which promises to destroy Israel, of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.
A year after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran began rolling back its own commitments under the agreement, which gave it relief from sanctions in return for IAEA-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.
In its latest report, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms (605 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent.
That level far exceeds the 3.67% enrichment ceiling set by the 2015 deal, but still falls short of the 90% threshold required for a nuclear warhead.
Since he returned to office in January, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” policy of imposing economic sanctions against Iran.
In March, he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging talks and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities in favor of seeking a negotiated deal.
Iran looks to Moscow for support
Also on Thursday, Khamenei sent his foreign minister to Russia with a letter for President Vladimir Putin, aiming to shore up support from Moscow ahead of the second round of negotiations with the US.
Russia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, plays a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding UN Security Council member and a signatory to an earlier nuclear deal Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
“Regarding the nuclear issue, we always had close consultations with our friends China and Russia. Now it is a good opportunity to do so with Russian officials,” Araghchi told state TV. He said he was conveying a letter to Putin that discussed regional and bilateral issues.
Moscow has bought weapons from Iran for the war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year, although it did not include a mutual defense clause. The two countries were battlefield allies in Syria for years until their ally, Bashar al-Assad, was toppled in December.
Putin has kept on good terms with Khamenei as both Russia and Iran are cast as enemies by the West, but Moscow is keen not to trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
Russia has said that any military strike against Iran would be illegal and unacceptable. The Kremlin on Tuesday declined to comment when asked if Russia was ready to take control of Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium as part of a possible future nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.
The Times of Israel Community.