Rafael Grossi Archives - Iran News Daily

Grossi to Iran: IAEA to Visit Second Site in Late Sept.

reporter 1222 — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 03:53:43 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the agency’s inspectors will visit the second of two sites in Iran later in September for verification purposes based on an agreement reached between the two sides late last month.

“We reached agreement on the resolution of the safeguards implementation issues raised by the Agency. The Agency subsequently conducted a complementary access, under the Additional Protocol, at one of the two locations specified by us,” IAEA’s Director General Rafael Grossi said on Monday, Press TV reported.

Addressing the agency’s 35-member Board of Governors, he added, “Our inspectors took environmental samples which will be analyzed. A complementary access at the second specified location will take place later this month.”

He noted that during his visit to Tehran, he held talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other senior officials “aimed at making concrete progress in addressing the Agency’s outstanding questions, and in particular at resolving the issue of access to two locations in Iran.”

At the end of Grossi’s two-day trip to Tehran on August 26, Iran and the UN agency issued a joint statement on their agreements and the results of high-level talks between the two sides.

“After intensive bilateral consultations, Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement on the resolution of the safeguards implementation issues specified by the IAEA, in good faith. In this regard, Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve these issues,” read part of the statement.

In his Monday speech, the UN nuclear agency chief also welcomed the Iran-IAEA agreement and expressed hope that it would “reinforce cooperation and enhance mutual trust.”

Grossi added that the agency would continue to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement, saying, “Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities for Iran continue.”

Meanwhile, the IAEA chief told reporters after opening the Board of Governors’ meeting that analyzing environmental samples collected at the first site would take “not less than a couple of months, two or three months maybe.”

Iran’s permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Kazem Gharibabadi said on September 4 the latest IAEA report envisaged “positive and constructive” prospects in bilateral cooperation.

“In terms of content, the report has explicitly portrayed a clear image of the current status of [bilateral] cooperation and envisaged positive and constructive prospects in relations between Iran and the agency,” he told reporters.

The Iranian official said it was expected that an overwhelming majority of the IAEA member states and the Board of Governors would approve of the constructive nature of the relationship between Tehran and the agency.

Under the 2015 accord, the IAEA monitors Iran’s nuclear activities and regularly updates its members through providing reports.

The visit by the IAEA head to Tehran took place over two months after the Board of Governors on June 19 passed a resolution, put forward by Britain, France and Germany – the three European signatories to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to push for inspections of two sites that the trio claims may have been used for undeclared nuclear activities in the early 2000s.

It was the Israeli regime’s spy service that first came up with the allegations of such activity at the two sites. Iran has, however, strictly rejected the allegations.

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Rouhani: IAEA Must Save Iran Deal

reporter 1222 — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 03:56:47 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has an important responsibility concerning the Iran nuclear deal, stressing that Iran will continue its ties with the UN agency.

During a meeting with the visiting Director-General of the IAEA Rafael Mariano Grossi on Wednesday, Rouhani said that in addition to its technical responsibilities, the IAEA has an important responsibility to ensure that the Iran nuclear agreement is maintained.

Tehran attaches great importance to its relations with the IAEA, Rouhani said and stressed that Iran will continue its cooperation with the UN agency.

“Iran, like before, is ready to cooperate with the IAEA,” Rouhani said.

Rouhani pointed to IAEA’s detailed reports about Iran’s implementation of Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), during the cooperation of seven countries involved in nuclear talks and said, “JCPOA was a very important agreement for Iran and P5+1 group, which created peace and security both in the region and world.”

The IAEA chief, for his part, expressed satisfaction with an agreement reached with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran during the ongoing visit to Tehran and emphasized on deepening and expanding cooperation between the two sides.

Grossi described the JCPOA as a great achievement and said the IAEA has an important task to maintain it.

He expressed hope that all technical issues and questions will be resolved through further cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA.

Grossi arrived in Tehran on Monday and held separate meetings with the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday.

Joint statement

The meeting between Rouhani and Grossi came hours after the IAEA and Iran in a joint statement said they agreed to further reinforce their cooperation to facilitate the full implementation of Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA).

The statement released by the IAEA’s official website, said that the UN agency and Tehran agreed to further reinforce their cooperation and enhance mutual trust to facilitate the full implementation of Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol (AP) thereto, which is provisionally applied by Iran since 16 January 2016.

After intensive bilateral consultations, Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement on the resolution of the safeguards implementation issues specified by the IAEA, in good faith, the statement read.

In this regard, Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve these issues, it said.

It added that dates for the IAEA access and the verification activities have been agreed.

The joint statement added that the IAEA verification activities will proceed in accordance with the CSA and the AP, and the IAEA’s standard verification practice as implemented for all states with CSAs and APs on equal basis and without discrimination.

“In the context of resolution GOV/2015/72 adopted by the Board of Governors on 15 December 2015, the IAEA and Iran recognize that these safeguards implementation issues are exclusively related to nuclear material and activities subject to safeguards under the CSA and the AP.”

In this present context, said the statement, “based on analysis of available information to the IAEA, the IAEA does not have further questions to Iran and further requests for access to locations other than those declared by Iran under its CSA and AP.”

It also said, “Both sides recognize the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the IAEA continue to be essential in the fulfilment of its verification activities.”

“The IAEA will continue to take into consideration Iran’s security concerns, by protecting all safeguards confidential information in accordance with the IAEA’s Statute, the relevant provisions of the CSA and the AP, and the established IAEA confidentiality regime, standards and procedures,” the statement read.

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Grossi Vows Impartial Attitude of Agancy Towards Iran

reporter 1222 — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 10:36:38 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi said the UN nuclear agency would adopt an even-handed attitude towards Iran during his tenure.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran on Tuesday, Grossi said the IAEA works on the basis of standards and legal tools, not the desires of certain parties.

The safeguards agreements and protocols form the basis of the IAEA’s function, he said, stressing that the UN agency will have impartial attitudes during his term.

Highlighting the continued cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, the visiting official said one of the UN nuclear agency’s major cases of cooperation in the field of inspection relates to Iran.

“We have constructive cooperation and it will continue,” he added.

Grossi underlined that the IAEA’s judgments are based upon technical issues, not political purposes.

The UN nuclear agency has direct contacts with countries and would not allow any third party to affect the relationship, he stated.

For his part, Salehi said Iran and the IAEA are going to start a new chapter of cooperation, hoping that the results of Grossi’s visit to Iran would be favorable to both sides.

“We held constructive talks, and it was agreed that the agency would keep working professionally and we would also honor our commitments,” the Iranian official said.

Salehi said Iran’s vigilance has thwarted the hostile plots, stressing that Tehran would not agree on anything beyond its commitments.

Grossi arrived in Tehran on Monday for the first time after taking office in December.

He had announced earlier that his discussions in Tehran would address the cooperation of Iran with the IAEA, and in particular Iran’s provision of access to the Agency’s inspectors to requested locations.

The Islamic Republic rejects any allegations of non-cooperation with the IAEA, insisting that it is prepared to resolve potentially outstanding differences with the IAEA.

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IAEA Head Planning to Visit Iran: NHK

reporter 1222 — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 04:08:28 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is planning to visit Iran for the first time, according to Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK.

Citing diplomatic sources, the Japanese media said on Friday that Grossi hopes to visit Tehran as early as next week to hold talks with senior Iranian officials.

The IAEA plans to release its updated report on Iran’s nuclear program in early September, ahead of a Board of Governors meeting in the middle of the month. The Iranian issue is expected to be the main focus in the meeting.

Grossi’s planned visit to Iran follows a visit by his senior staff in charge of inspections in mid-August.

Iran has taken steps to reduce its commitments under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers following the US unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and reimposition of sanctions against Iran in 2018, but it says is ready to restore all those commitments anytime that its interests are met within the framework of the nuclear deal.

In July, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran will continue its peaceful nuclear program according to the terms of the agreement with the IAEA since Tehran sees the peaceful use of nuclear energy as an inalienable right of the nation, according to Press TV.

“We will go on with our peaceful nuclear program according to the rules and regulations set and agreed upon with the IAEA,” Araqchi wrote in an article for a Polish periodical.

US President Donald Trump, a hawkish critic of the historic deal, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism.

In response, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments five times in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal.

As a first step, Iran increased its enriched uranium stockpile to beyond the 300 kilograms set by the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In the second step, Tehran began enriching uranium to purity rates beyond the JCPOA limit of 3.76 percent.

In the third phase, after the Europeans failed to meet a 60-day deadline to meet Iran’s demands and fulfill their commitments under the deal, Iran started up advanced centrifuges to boost the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium and activated 20 IR-4 and 20 IR-6 centrifuges for research and development purposes.

In November last year, Iran began injecting gas into centrifuges at the Fordo plant as part of its fourth step away from the JCPOA under the supervision of the IAEA.

The Iranian government in January issued a statement announcing its decision to take the fifth and final step in reducing its commitments under the JCPOA.

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AEOI Chief: Iran Not Submit to Pressure

reporter 1222 — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 06:29:12 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said the country is open to talks on its nuclear program but will never be pressurized to make any decision.

“(Iran’s) Relations with the IAEA are very good and based on mutual understanding, and as an international authority, this organization and its decisions should not be influenced by political inclinations,” Salehi said in a meeting with director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, held in Vienna on Tuesday.

“Iran welcomes negotiation and logic but will not make any decisions under pressure,” the top Iranian nuclear official, AEOI chief underlined.

For his part, Grossi praised Iran’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog in various areas and demanded that the Islamic Republic continue constructive cooperation with the IAEA as in the past, Press TV reported.

After taking office in late 2019, the new IAEA director-general described Iran’s nuclear program as one of the priorities he would consider “immediately” and added he may meet Iranian officials soon.

The Argentine diplomat had said he would be “firm but fair” on inspections generally, including in Iran, without spelling out what that means.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

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Grossi: Iran keeping cooperation with IAEA

reporter 1222 — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 06:00:52 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Tuesday that cooperation of Iran with the IAEA has not been interrupted following its decision to scale down its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal.

In an interview with Euronews, Grossi said, “We are there, our inspectors are there, Iran is carrying out its activities, which is very important. At the same time, what our inspectors have been verifying is the diminishing degree of compliance of the agreement in 2015.”

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia, and China – plus Germany signed the deal on July 14, 2015.

Under the deal, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

However, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the international nuclear deal in May 2018 and stepped up sanctions on Iran.

A year after the US withdrawal, Iran has rowed back on its nuclear commitments in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

However, Iran had repeatedly said its reciprocal measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the Iranian economy from unilateral US sanctions.

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Constructive relations with Iran, IAEA chief goal

reporter 1222 — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 06:29:50 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Rafael Grossi, the newly appointed director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has reiterated his aim to establish constructive relations with Iran.

“As DG Grossi has previously stated, he aims to establish constructive working relationship w/ Iran,” the IAEA said in a tweet on its website Saturday.

Grossi met with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Vienna on Friday. Araghchi was in Vienna to participate in the joint commission of the JCPOA.

In another tweet, the IAEA said, “IAEA Director-General @rafaelmgrossi met Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister @araghchi on Friday to discuss the Agency’s safeguards activities in Iran, including verification and monitoring of the country’s nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA, and other issues.”

Grossi was appointed as the new director-general of the IAEA in October, following the death of the previous chief Yukiya Amano in July. He officially took office as director-general of the UN nuclear watchdog on Tuesday.

In an interview with NHK published on November 30, Grossi said that he wants to develop a constructive relationship with the Iranians.

Iranian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Kazzem Qaribabadi said on December 2 that the IAEA should be “impartial” in its dealings with Iran.

“Maintaining constructive working relations between Iran and the Agency is of paramount importance, which we believe that it should be carried out in an impartial, professional and independent manner, void of any hidden political agenda,” he said at the IAEA Second Special General Conference.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on October 31 that Iran is ready to expand cooperation with the IAEA based on “mutual trust” and adoption of a professional approach by the UN nuclear body.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to maintain and expand constructive interaction and cooperation with the Agency based on mutual respect and professional precision and neutrality of this institution,” he said in a message, congratulating Grossi as the new director of the IAEA.

Mousavi expressed hope that Grossi would fulfill his international duties professionally by adopting an independent position.

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New IAEA Chief: Meet Iran Envoy in Vienna

reporter 1222 — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 08:00:00 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The new IAEA chief said he is expected to hold talks with Iranian officials who will be in Vienna later this week for a meeting of the remaining JCPOA parties.

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Tuesday, described Iran’s nuclear program as one of the priorities he would consider “immediately” and added he may meet Iranian officials soon.

New IAEA chief hoped he can help set a new tone with the Islamic Republic in his first face-to-face talks, starting this week on the sidelines of the meeting in Vienna.

“I’m the new kid on the block in this relationship. They’ve been there, now they get a new DG, so we have to sit down together, start talking and take it from there,” he said.

“Let me start my conversation with Iran. I don’t think it would be appropriate, and it would be unfair, to pronounce myself about their attitudes before I sit down with them.”

Grossi has said he will be “firm but fair” on inspections generally, including in Iran, without spelling out what that means. He told Reuters he is satisfied with the work the IAEA’s inspections team has been doing.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

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IAEA impartiality needed to avoid unilateral measures; Iran says

reporter 1222 — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 05:29:44 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran stressed the need for the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA impartiality under its new chief, Rafael Grossi, saying the UN nuclear watchdog should avoid forceful and unilateral measures.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, highlighted on Monday the IAEA obligation to maintain its independence, professional acts, and impartiality with regard to facing critical issues, Press TV reported.

“Iran believes that peaceful use of nuclear energy should not be hindered through unilateral and illegally forceful measures, nor be conditioned to any arbitrary and inadmissible preconditions on behalf of other countries,” Gharibabadi said.

Pointing to the notion that observation and verification of Iran’s nuclear program activities under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was part of the IAEA’s basic mission at the present time, Gharibabadi said Iran was an “important partner” for the agency.

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the existence of the three pillars of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and also the credibility of the IAEA is by and large predicated upon commitment to these principles,” the Iranian diplomat added.

On October 29, the IAEA’s 35-nation board of Governors picked Grossi, a 58-year-old Argentinian diplomat, to become the agency’s next chief, succeeding Yukiya Amano, who died in office in July.

After his election, Grossi, who had the early support of Brazil and the United States, pledged to act independently and neutrally on issues including Iran.

“I will do my job and I think my job is to implement the mandate in a manner which is independent, fair, and neutral,” he said.

The new IAEA director-general is facing challenges such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, whose fate remains in doubt after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the multilateral accord and Europe’s failure to fulfill its end of the bargain.

The US under President Donald Trump and Israel – a staunch opponent of diplomacy with Iran – have repeatedly attempted to put pressure on the IAEA to kill the JCPOA.

Prior to Grossi’s appointment, reports said the US had been meddling in favor of Argentina’s contender.

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