IAEA: no progress on safeguards in Iranian nuclear programme

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced on Monday that no progress was made on resolving the safeguards issue in the Iranian nuclear programme. In his opening speech at the IAEA regular quarterly session in Vienna, Grossi stated that Iran has not provided the IAEA with any reliable technical knowledge regarding the presence of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin (human origin) at Varamin and Turquzabad or informed the agency of the current locations of the nuclear material or contaminated equipment. He added that Iran is still not implementing modified Code 3.1, having stated it had suspended the implementation, and that these safeguard issues stem from Iran's obligation under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and need to be resolved for the Agency to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. He added that statements made in Iran regarding its technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons and possible changes to its nuclear doctrine only increase his concerns about the correctness of Iran's safeguards declarations. He pointed out that during his visit early May to Tehran, after meeting with a few prominent Iranian figures, he shared with them proposals to reinstate the implementation of the Joint Statement of 4 March 2023. He welcomed Iran's agreement that the Joint Statement continues to be a framework for cooperation with the Agency and for addressing outstanding issues and call upon Iran to implement the Joint Statement through serious engagement with the Agency's proposals. He reiterated his call on Iran's new government to continue the dialogue and technical exchanges as a result of the meetings with the late Foreign Minister and the current acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on 6 and 7 May in Tehran and Esfahan. He expressed his regret that Iran has yet to reverse its decision to withdraw the designations for several experienced Agency inspectors. Founded in 1957 in Vienna, the IAEA is an independent non-governmental organization operating under the authority of the United Nations that seeks to encourage the safe use of nuclear energy and control nuclear arms. Source: Kuwait News Agency