UN nuclear watchdog chief says inspectors 'back in Iran'

WASHINGTON: The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said a team of its inspectors are “back in Iran,” the first to enter since Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities this year.

Iran suspended cooperation with the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency following a 12-day war with Israel in June, with Tehran pointing to the IAEA’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

“Now the first team of IAEA inspectors is back in Iran, and we are about to restart,” director general Rafael Grossi told Fox News’ “The Story” in an interview aired on Tuesday.

“When it comes to Iran, as you know, there are many facilities. Some were attacked, some were not,” Grossi said.

“So we are discussing what kind of… practical modalities can be implemented in order to facilitate the restart of our work there.”

The announcement came as Iran held talks with Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Tuesday, with Tehran seeking to avert a sanctions snapback which the European powers have threatened to impose under a moribund 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who attended the talks, said it was “high time” for the European trio “to make the right choice and give diplomacy time and space”.

Britain, France and Germany — parties to the 2015 deal — have threatened to trigger the accord’s “snapback mechanism” by the end of August.

Tuesday’s meeting was the second round of talks with European diplomats since the end of the June war, which was triggered by an unprecedented Israeli attack.

The conflict derailed Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the United States.

It also cast a chill on Iran’s ties with the IAEA, with Tehran blaming the UN agency in part for the attacks on its nuclear facilities.

The 2015 nuclear deal was torpedoed in 2018 by Donald Trump, during his first term as president, when he unilaterally withdrew the United States and slapped sanctions on Iran.