Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran for the IAEA to proceed with further monitoring and verification measures is indispensable to the Agency fulfilling its mission, a written statement from Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi informed the IAEA’s Board of Governors this morning. In his introductory remarks to the quarterly session of the 35-member Board, Mr Grossi outlined recent safeguards developments in Iran; IAEA nuclear safety, security and safeguards activities in Ukraine, and touched upon numerous advancements in IAEA programmes and initiatives.
Mr Grossi began his remarks by updating the Board on the outcomes of his meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Iran Vice-President, and President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami, over the weekend. Outlined in a joint statement from the AEOI and IAEA on Saturday, Mr Grossi agreed with steps taken by Iran’s leadership to facilitate enhanced cooperation and expedite the resolution of outstanding safeguards issues. “This is important,” Mr Grossi told the Board.
Regarding traces of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin found by the IAEA in undeclared locations, Mr Grossi said that these outstanding safeguards issues had been ongoing for far too long: “It is really time to move to concrete results here, so that we can provide the necessary indispensable assurances about the purely peaceful nature of the programme in Iran.”
“All in all, these are steps in the right direction but of course we should be measured in our judgement as there is a lot of work ahead of us.” Mr Grossi said. “It is my obligation as head of the organization to always look for technically credible solutions to the problems we have in front of us. This is my responsibility, and I will continue doing this.”