Wednesday, December 17, 2025

IAEA chief says first team of inspectors in Iran

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi told Fox News on Tuesday that the first team of inspectors from the agency had arrived in Iran and were set to restart work soon.

“Now the first team of IAEA inspectors is back in Iran, and we are about to restart,” he said.

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

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

“It’s not an easy situation, as you can imagine, because for some in Iran, the presence of international inspectors is detrimental to their international security. For some, that is not the case, ” the IAEA director-general stated.

He added that he had a “very good meeting” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

This comes after Iranian officials met with representatives of the E3 countries, UK, France, and Germany, in Geneva on Tuesday.

A diplomat said representatives of three European countries threatening to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program failed to agree with their Iranian counterpart on Tuesday on how to avoid the measures days ahead of a deadline,

The diplomat added efforts would continue to search for a solution ahead of an E3 deadline at the end of this month to invoke the so-called “snapback mechanism” of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal over what the countries have deemed Iran’s lack of compliance.

The snapback would mean a return to wide-ranging UN sanctions in place before the agreement, including a conventional arms embargo, restrictions on ballistic missile development, asset freezes, travel bans and a ban on producing nuclear-related technology.

The talks in Switzerland between representatives of Britain, France and Germany — known as the E3 — and Iran “ended without a final outcome,” stated the diplomat with knowledge of the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive discussions.

On July 2, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian gave the final approval to a resolution that suspends cooperation with the IAEA.

The rationale for the move was the UN atomic agency’s politically-motivated resolution which paved the way for the US-Israeli acts of aggression against the Islamic Republic.

The resolution was approved during the public session of Iran’s Parliament on June 25.

According to the resolution, IAEA inspectors will not be permitted to enter Iran unless the security of the country’s nuclear facilities and that of peaceful nuclear activities is guaranteed, which is subject to the approval of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iran is also considering an entry ban on the IAEA chief, Rafael Grossi, who has come under fire for his politically motivated reports against Iran.

In an unprovoked, brazen assault on June 13, Israel targeted Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists who had previously been placed on sanctions lists based on IAEA reports. Israel also killed civilians.

On June 22, the US military bombed Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan nuclear sites in violation of the United Nations Charter, international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Grossi remained silent. He did not condemn the onslaught, drawing criticisms from Iranian officials.

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