UN nuclear watchdog says new deal with Iran covers 'all facilities'

VIENNA: Iran’s new cooperation framework with the UN nuclear watchdog includes “all facilities and installations in Iran”, agency head Rafael Grossi said Wednesday.

Iran agreed a deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday, after it suspended cooperation following the war with Israel in June.

The 12-day war saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which the IAEA has not been able to access since.

Grossi said the agreed document “provides for a clear understanding of the procedures for inspections”.

It “includes all facilities and installations in Iran, and it also contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked facilities, including the nuclear material present at those,” Grossi told the Vienna-based agency’s Board of Governors meeting.

Tehran’s suspension of cooperation saw the agency’s inspectors leave Iran, before a team briefly returned last month to oversee the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Access to nuclear sites now requires the approval of the Supreme National Security Council, and the most recent inspection was not granted access to other key sites, including Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the June strikes.

“Iran and the agency will now resume cooperation in a respectful and comprehensive way,” Grossi said, adding the “practical steps… need to be implemented now”.

“There may be difficulties and issues to be resolved for sure, but we now know what we have to do,” he added.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that Iran would end cooperation with the agency “in the event of any hostile action against Iran” .

“I emphasise that in the event of any hostile action against Iran, including the reinstatement of lifted UN Security Council resolutions, Iran will consider these practical steps ended,” he said.

In August, Britain, France and Germany initiated steps to reimpose UN sanctions after weeks of warnings, citing Iran’s continued non-compliance with its commitments under a 2015 nuclear agreement.

Iran has condemned the move as “illegal” and warned that it could lead to the exclusion of the European powers from any future negotiations.