Grossi demanded to increase the access of Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to Iran’s nuclear sites

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described Iran’s nuclear program as “complex” in an interview with PBS television, and said that this complexity is not only due to the increase in uranium enrichment, but also due to the reduction of the agency’s inspection capacity. .

According to PBS, while requesting for increased inspections, Grossi claimed: “We are inspecting, but not at the levels and depth that we should be allowed to do. I tell our Iranian counterparts, we want to interact.”

Grossi further pointed to the JCPOA agreement and said: “This agreement has basically been abandoned and is like an empty shell.” Currently, no one is complying with its provisions… This agreement was based on a certain number and type of technologies, capacities and capabilities. But this is ten years ago.” He further pointed out: “Iran now has much faster and more efficient centrifuges. It has more possibilities to produce parts and Iran 2024 is no longer the Iran of 2015”.

Grossi further reiterated the agency’s request to increase the access of its inspectors and said that if such access is not granted, it will stop providing guarantees for the peacefulness of Iran’s nuclear program. He mentioned a similar incident in Iraq and said: “Let me give an example. In the late 1990s, 1980s, this happened in Iraq, where the agency and the world believed everything was right. But many events were happening without the knowledge of the inspectors. We learned from that experience and we don’t want to go back to it.”

The host of the program continued to make claims about nuclear weapons in Iran, but the head of the Atomic Energy Agency said clearly: “Some analysts say such things, but first of all, the Iran we are talking about today does not have nuclear weapons. . If we want to speak impartially, Tehran is accumulating highly enriched uranium, and this is what has attracted our attention.” Grossi further said that a nuclear weapon is a complex system, and to make it, other things besides enriched uranium are needed.

He pointed out: “We are in a situation where we want Iran to return to full cooperation with the IAEA, but the scenario of nuclear weapons is out of the question.”

It should be said, Grossi’s claims about the agency’s limited access for inspection are raised while Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, previously announced: “Iran is inspected 10 times more than other countries.” He, who had traveled to Vienna to participate in the 67th annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview with Al Jazeera: “About 120 inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency are now accepted and trusted by Iran and are doing serious work. Now if we reject a few of them, it is our right”.