IAEA chief to visit Iran next week as anxiety grows over nuclear program
Rafael Grossi to meet senior Iranian officials, attend ‘first International Nuclear Energy Conference’ in Isfahan, weeks after Islamic Republic’s attack on Israel
United Nations nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi will visit Iran next week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday, amid heightened tensions between the Islamic Republic and Israel that have led to fears of an attack on a nuclear facility.
“We can confirm that Director General Grossi will be in Iran on May 6-7 for meetings with senior Iranian officials,” a spokesman of the International Atomic Energy Agency told AFP.
His visit next week comes weeks after a reported Israeli strike in the central province of Isfahan in retaliation for Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel.
On April 13-14, the Islamic Republic fired a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in response to Israel’s alleged killing of Revolutionary Guard generals in Syria.
Israel, in response, was reported to have struck an airbase near Isfahan in central Iran, damaging a radar defense system. Iran downplayed the attack, saying no link to Israel was found, thus allaying fears of a wider regional war. The IAEA and Iranian officials also said there was “no damage” to nuclear sites in the province.
However, concerns have risen that Iran may further step up its nuclear program.
The Vienna-based IAEA has been struggling since 2021 to carry out controls on the program, which Tehran has expanded even as it denies it wants to make nuclear weapons.
Grossi will take part in “the first International Nuclear Energy Conference,” which will be held in Isfahan from May 6-8, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.
Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said in February that Tehran had invited Grossi to visit in May to attend the conference.
The IAEA chief is scheduled to meet with Iranian officials to discuss “nuclear issues,” Tasnim reported.
Grossi was last in Iran in March 2023.
In January, Grossi expressed frustration over Iran’s nuclear activity in an interview with AFP, saying Tehran was “restricting cooperation in an unprecedented way.”
In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with major powers to restrict its nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.
But in 2018, then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the agreement and reimposed sweeping sanctions, leading to Iran starting to suspend its compliance with limits on its nuclear activities a year later.
In February, Iran said it had started building a new nuclear research reactor in Isfahan, days after it announced it was constructing a nuclear power plant complex in the south.
