VIENNA (AP) — Iran has agreed to provide the answers long sought by the United Nations nuclear service, Tehran and the UN agency said Saturday as talks in Vienna over its failed nuclear deal with world powers appear to be drawing to a close.
A joint statement by Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s civilian Atomic Energy Organization, and Rafael Mariano Grossi of Atomic Energy International came hours after their meeting in Tehran.
It stipulates that the issue of detecting uranium particles at former undeclared sites in the country will be resolved by June – a move that is unrelated to the nuclear deal talks but could help push them to completion.
But in the meantime, Russia’s foreign minister has for the first time linked US sanctions against Moscow over its war with Ukraine to ongoing nuclear deal talks with Iran, adding a new wrinkle to delicate diplomacy.
Grossi said in Tehran that “it would be hard to believe or imagine that such an important return to such a comprehensive agreement as (the nuclear deal) would be possible if the agency and Iran did not see eye to eye on how to resolve these important issues. guarantees.” In the language of the IAEA, safeguards refers to the agency’s inspections and monitoring of a country’s nuclear program.
Grossi has been pressing Iran for years to answer questions about man-made uranium particles found at the country’s former undeclared nuclear facilities. The intelligence agencies of the United States, Western countries and the IAEA said that Iran was carrying out an organized program to create nuclear weapons until 2003. Iran has long denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.
Eslami said the men had reached an “agreement” whereby Iran would “submit documents that would remove the ambiguity about our country.” He did not specify what would be discussed in the documents.
A later joint statement said that Eslami would provide the UN nuclear watchdog by March 20 with “written explanations, including relevant supporting documents, on issues raised by the IAEA that have not been addressed by Iran on issues related to the three sites.”
According to him, within two weeks the IAEA will review this information and present any questions, and within a week after that, the two agencies will meet in Tehran to resolve issues.
Grossi will then try to communicate his findings by the time the IAEA Board of Governors meets in June.
As part of the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to drastically limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions. But then-President Donald Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally pull America out of the deal sparked years of tension and attack in the Middle East.
Today, Tehran is enriching uranium to 60% purity, the highest level ever and a small technical step from 90% weapons-grade levels, well above the 3.67% limit under the nuclear deal. Its stockpile of enriched uranium also continues to grow, which worries nuclear non-proliferation experts as Iran could approach the threshold of having enough material to build a nuclear weapon if it decides to go in for it.
The unannounced sites also played a role in the original 2015 deal. That same year, the then Director General of the IAEA also traveled to Tehran and visited one suspected weapons program site in Parchin. The inspectors also took samples there for analysis.
Grossi’s inspectors also face challenges in monitoring Iran’s current progress in its civilian program. Iran has been keeping IAEA surveillance footage since February 2021, preventing inspectors from viewing it during nuclear talks.
In Vienna, negotiators appear to be signaling a deal is close, even as Russia’s war with Ukraine rages on. Russia’s ambassador there, Mikhail Ulyanov, was a key facilitator in the talks and tweeted on Thursday that the talks were “nearly over.” This was also acknowledged by French negotiator Philippe Herrera.
“We hope to get back to a conclusion quickly because we are very, very close to an agreement,” Herrera tweeted on Friday. “But nothing is agreed until EVERYTHING is agreed!”
British negotiator Stephanie Al-Kak simply wrote: “We are close.”
But comments Saturday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested for the first time that the war in Ukraine and the tough sanctions the Americans and others have imposed on Moscow could get in the way.
“We need guarantees that these sanctions will not in any way affect the trade, economic and investment relations contained in the (deal) on the Iranian nuclear program,” Lavrov said, according to the TASS news agency.
Lavrov said he needed “guarantees, at least at the Secretary of State level” that US sanctions would not affect Moscow’s relations with Tehran. There was no immediate American reaction to Lavrov’s comments.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard unveiled what it called two new underground missile and drone bases in the country. State television said the bases were equipped with surface-to-surface missiles and armed drones capable of “hiding from enemy radar.”
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Associated Press correspondents Geir Moulson in Berlin and Amir Wahdat in Tehran contributed. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.