Analyst: Iran must settle issues with IAEA before any restoration of nuclear deal

Abbas Maleki, an academic and energy expert, told Jamaran news website that if the case with IAEA remained open, Rafael Grossi, the Agency’s chief, could once against reiterate the claim that he would not be able to confirm the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program even if the 2015 nuclear deal returned back on track.

“I, therefore, believe that the Iranian government must first settle its issues with the IAEA, especially in the field of the Safeguards, [so that] they (the Agency) would say we reached results and it is over before any deal is made,” he said.

Elsewhere, the analyst referred to efforts at circumventing the US sanctions on Iran’s energy trade, saying one solution that the Iranian government needs to “seriously consider” is to set up a direct oil pipeline from Iran eastward to China, the country’s major customer.

The Chinese, he said, are even more interested in such a pipeline, since any oil or gas cargo that passes through the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean gets inspected by the Americans at the Strait of Malacca.