Britain, France and Germany call on Iran to immediately restore access for the IAEA to the Karaj site, according to a joint statement by the three countries released by the British Foreign Office.
"Despite the understanding reached with Iran during talks in September, Iran continues to deny the IAEA access to the TESA facility at Karaj. The fact that Iran has not fully implemented the agreement is extremely worrying and calls into question Iran's willingness to act in good faith... We call on Iran to urgently restore access to the Karaj site for the IAEA," the statement said.
Also, Britain, France and Germany are returning to talks in Vienna on Iran's nuclear program, according to a joint statement by the E3 released by the British Foreign Office. "We, as the E3, are ready, will return to the negotiations in Vienna, based on the principles of good faith, to restore work to the stage where we left the talks in June," the statement said.
The next round of talks on the Iran nuclear deal in Vienna is scheduled for Nov. 29.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal cited diplomats as saying that IAEA Director General Raphael Grossi had left Iran without seeking agreement on access for inspectors to the site where "equipment for Iran's nuclear program is being built". According to the sources, Iran offered to grant IAEA access to the Karaj site in exchange for a partial suspension of the agency's investigation into the nuclear materials found in Iran. Grossi refused.
Earlier, Grossi held talks with Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The two sides discussed the format of further cooperation. Grossi also noted that Iran has not deviated from its commitments to develop its nuclear program. After Grossi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. In November 2019, it was reported that IAEA officials had discovered natural uranium particles of man-made origin at a previously unreported site in Iran. In early March of this year, the IAEA director general stated that this clearly indicated that there were nuclear materials there, but Tehran still has not explained the presence of these particles at the site 1.5 years later. In April, the IAEA and Iran began negotiations at the level of technical experts on the uranium particles detected at the site that Tehran had not declared.
You must be logged in to post a comment.