The director general of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said today that he has seen good signs from the new Iranian administration ahead of his visit to the Iranian capital on 13 November.
Speaking to reporters in Baku, Rafael Grossi said he and his colleagues at the IAEA are looking forward to what he described as "a very important visit" with the aim of "re-establishing contact" with the Iranian authorities.
The visit will be Grossi's first to Iran since Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian took office in late July, and comes at a time of increased tensions in the Middle East region.
Israel's offensive against Gaza-based militia group Hamas that was triggered by the group's deadly 7 October 2023 cross-border attack on Israel has since expanded into Lebanon and, to an extent, drawn Iran into the fray, with Tehran and Tel Aviv having now traded missile strikes twice in recent months.
Israel's latest strike in October has raised fears that Iran could respond not only in kind, but also by speeding up its work to enrich uranium and move the country ever closer to possessing weapons-grade nuclear material.
This is despite Iranian officials, not least Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisting that Iran has no intention of building or possessing nuclear weapons.
"We are looking forward to that [meeting]. It's high time we establish or re-establish contact with the government," Grossi said. "We have been preparing for this meeting for quite a long time."
Grossi said he saw it as "a good sign" that the new Iranian administration is showing "a disposition to talk."
"Of course, we have to give content and meaning to the conversations. But I am encouraged by the fact that we seem to be having a good agenda in front of us."
Damage limitation
The meeting comes after the IAEA's board of governors in June passed a resolution calling on Iran to step up its co-operation with the agency, and reverse a decision to restrict access to nuclear sites by de-designating inspectors.
Tehran at the time rejected that resolution as "politically biased", prompting a swift denial from Grossi, saying that the agency does not adhere to an "anti-Iran policy".
Asked today whether Donald Trump's election victory last week could impact relations with Iran, Grossi admitted that while it will "undoubtedly" have an influence, he expected that the incoming administration would work well with the IAEA, as was the case during Trump's first term. "We will adjust to that," Grossi said.
A diplomatic source with knowledge of the situation described the ongoing tensions in the Mideast Gulf region as "out of control," and said they are hopeful Grossi's visit to the Iranian capital will help "keep a lid on the situation" and help to find some badly-needed "solutions".
If Grossi achieves what he set out to do on this visit, it could lay the groundwork for any co-operation that the agency may have with the new administration around how best to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, the source said.
