IRIA News

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi arrived in Washington on October 18, on a five-day visit to the United States during which he will hold meetings with the U.S. officials to discuss current non-proliferation issues and highlight the IAEA’s growing role in fostering global peace and development.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met for the first time since taking office and held discussions on a wide range of issues including North Korea and Iran.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters that his meeting with the U.S. secretary of state included “important political issues like Iran or the situation in DPRK (North Korea) and the other parts of the world”.

IAEA Director-General and Secretary Blinken also discussed the U.S. role in supporting the IAEA and addressing the nuclear issues of Iran and North Korea. “The United States is supporting as to our work, peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” IAEA Director-General Grossi said.

In recent months, the North Korean regime has intensified its efforts to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities. Since 2019, North Korea has stalled talks on denuclearization, and despite numerous attempts, the U.S. failed to convince the North Korean leader to resume negotiations.

During the meeting, Director General Grossi also spoke about the IAEA’s verification and monitoring under the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. IAEA director underlined the importance of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and stated that “With a 24/7 inspector presence in Iran, the IAEA stands ready to continue playing its role as guarantor and verifier of the JCPOA and any future agreement”.

The meeting between the U.S. officials and IAEA director comes amid President Biden administration’s recent efforts to bring Iran back to the negotiating table and resume dialogues on the nuclear deal.

During the press briefing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “the United States strongly supports the work of the IAEA. It is critical to helping to maintain international peace and stability. It’s obviously playing a vital role in monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities, and it plays a critical role in helping to forge cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear power”.

“IAEA plays a critical role in implementing the promise of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by providing assurance about the peaceful nature of nuclear programs around the world and by facilitating the safe and secure use of nuclear technology, including to help meet the challenge of global climate change”, Sectary Blinken said.

The U.S. Secretary of State Blinken also consulted with Director-General Grossi regarding “the need for Iran to meet its nuclear verification obligations and commitments, cease its nuclear provocations, and return to the diplomacy it says it seeks”.

Last year, the Iranian Parliament passed a new law that forced out the IAEA inspectors from Iran and demanded the relief of sanctions that were imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing from the nuclear deal in 2018.

However, in September 2021, Iran and the IAEA officials reached an agreement to continue video surveillance of the nuclear sites after an interim agreement expired in June 2021.

Under the new agreement, Iran would preserve video surveillance footage but would not turn it over to the IAEA until it reached an agreement with the U.S. to restore the nuclear deal.

The sixth round of talks with Iran that were held in Vienna concluded under Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani in June and made little progress on reaching an agreement. Despite differences on the status of some additional sanctions, the two sides agreed in principle that Iran would reduce its nuclear accord breaches, and in exchange, the U.S. would cut back on its sectoral sanctions on Iran.

Although the new regime in Iran has not agreed to resume dialogues on the nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh suggested that “Iran could return to the negotiating table by November”.

The U.S. Secretary of State Blinken reiterated last week that the United States preferred the diplomatic option, but warned that they are “prepared to turn to other options if Iran doesn’t change course.”