IAEA Chief says Iran's cooperation with nuclear inspectors still 'a work in progress'

Despite Iran allowing inspectors back in for the first time since the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict in June, regaining access to crucial nuclear facilities is still "a work in progress,” according to Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“I can say that it is important that the inspectors are back,” Grossi said in an interview. “At the same time, we still need to clarify a number of things, and we still need to address all the issues that are important in terms of the inspections that we have to carry out in Iran.”

Grossi held a meeting with high-level officials in Washington this week, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also spoke Wednesday with his counterparts from Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Rubio and Grossi discussed global nuclear safety and "IAEA efforts to conduct monitoring and verification activities, including in Iran,” the State Department said in a brief readout of the meeting.

European sanctions loom

Leaders from the three European countries — known as the E3 — have spent the past several weeks meeting with Iranian officials, seeking a solution ahead of a deadline this week on a threat to reimpose UN sanctions.

They have warned that they would invoke the so-called “snapback mechanism” of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal over what the countries have deemed Iran’s lack of compliance.

The Europeans’ concern over the Iranian nuclear programme, which had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels before its atomic sites were bombed in the war, had only grown since Tehran cut off all cooperation with the IAEA following the conflict.

The US and the E3 agreed to set a deadline for 31 August for invoking the snapback mechanism if Iran fails to meet several conditions, including resuming negotiations with the US over its nuclear programme, allowing UN inspectors access to its nuclear sites and accounting for over 400 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium.

Inspectors gain access to one nuclear site

Grossi said it was a breakthrough that IAEA inspectors have been allowed to return to Iran for the first time since Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear sites, including with bunker-buster bombs.

"There were many voices in Iran advocating the end of any cooperation with the agency, and there were voices in the world arguing that perhaps the IAEA would never go back and that we would lose this indispensable work that we carry out on behalf of the international community."

So far, Grossi said IAEA inspectors have returned to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant but not yet the other sites, including those targeted by the US strikes. He said he had no immediate plans to return to Iran — he last visited the country early this year — but remains in contact with Iranian officials to go over the logistics of IAEA access to all the sites.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday confirmed inspectors were at the facility to watch a fuel replacement, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency. But he reportedly cautioned that it didn’t represent a breakthrough on the IAEA visiting other sites.