The UN nuclear watchdog’s head said on Wednesday that he “could not agree” in talks with Iranian officials to resolve dis-putes over the monitoring of the country’s atomic programme, a day after returning from Tehran.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the quar-terly meeting of the board of governors that his talks in Tehran were “inconclusive”, despite what he had earlier described as “intense” negotations.
“We could not agree yesterday, in spite of my best efforts,” Grossi told reporters on Wednes-day, shortly after addressing the board meeting.
Among other officials in Tehran, he met Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Or-ganization of Iran. He had been hoping to make pro-gress on several points of conten-tion between the agency and Te-hran.
b These include the constraints put on IAEA inspections activity ear-lier this year, outstanding ques-tions over the presence of unde-clared nuclear material at sites in Iran, and the treatment of IAEA staff in the country.
The talks came ahead of the scheduled resumption on Mon-day of negotiations between Te-hran and world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 deal that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.—APP
