Iran's foreign minister to meet IAEA chief in Egypt

Iran's foreign minister to meet IAEA chief in Egypt
by AFP Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Sept 9, 2025

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet on Tuesday with United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi in Egypt, the first such meeting since Tehran suspended cooperation with the agency two months ago.

"During a trip to Cairo, a meeting will be held with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to conclude negotiations on a new protocol for interaction between Iran and the Agency," Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Egypt's foreign ministry confirmed the meeting would take place Tuesday, bringing together Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Araghchi, and Grossi.

It will be the first meeting between Tehran and the IAEA since Iran suspended cooperation following a 12-day war with Israel in June, during which Israeli and the United States struck Iranian nuclear facilities.

Tehran has criticised the IAEA for failing to condemn those strikes and has said future cooperation with the agency will take "a new form".

Last month, a team of IAEA inspectors briefly returned to Iran to oversee the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant and departed shortly afterwards.

They were not granted access to other key sites, including Fordo and Natanz, which were hit during the conflict.

Iran is currently under growing pressure to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as Britain, France, and Germany have initiated steps to reimpose UN sanctions under the agreement's dispute resolution mechanism.

The three European countries have for weeks warned they may trigger the so-called "snapback" mechanism, citing Iran's continued non-compliance with its nuclear commitments.

Iran has condemned the move as "illegal", warning it would further undermine its cooperation with the IAEA.

Western powers and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran strongly denies, insisting its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

UN nuclear watchdog says hopes for inspections deal with Iran soon
Vienna (AFP) Sept 8, 2025 - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Monday that he was hopeful of reaching a deal with Iran on a full resumption of inspections of its sites in the "next few days", warning that "not much" time was left.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been in talks with Tehran on how to fully restart its inspections of key nuclear sites after Tehran suspended cooperation with the agency following attacks by Israel and the United States in June.

The inspectors left Iran after Israel launched its unprecedented attack on June 13, striking nuclear and military facilities, with Washington later joining in with strikes on key nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

In late August, an IAEA team briefly returned to Iran to oversee the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Addressing a quarterly board meeting, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement that "progress has been made" in talks on clinching a deal on the full resumption of inspections.

"It is my sincere hope that within the next few days it will be possible to come to a successful conclusion of these discussions in order to facilitate the resumption of our indispensable work with Iran," he said.

While details of the deal's "modalities" were still being hashed out, Grossi said that time was running out.

"There is still time, not much, but always enough when there is good faith and a clear sense of responsibility," he said on the opening day of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors meeting.