New opportunity for nuclear diplomacy
By Ebrahim Beheshti
Staff writer
Ebrahim Beheshti
The quarterly meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors commenced on Monday in Vienna and will continue through Friday. In the lead-up to the gathering, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi asserted in a report to the board that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has risen in recent months. He also alleged that Iran has not enhanced its cooperation with the agency despite the issuance of a resolution by the board during its previous session.
The current session addresses Iran’s Safeguards Agreement and NPT obligations with the IAEA, nuclear verification, and monitoring in Iran, alongside several other matters unrelated to Iran.
Between the previous and current Board of Governors meetings, Iran underwent a significant political transformation. The election of reformist Masoud Pezeshkian as the new president, advocating for constructive engagement with the world, marked a pivotal moment. Simultaneously, Abbas Araghchi, a prominent figure in Iran’s former nuclear negotiation team, now assumes the role of foreign minister.
Following Pezeshkian’s victory, Grossi expressed his desire to visit Iran and engage in discussions with the new president, a request readily approved by Pezeshkian. Grossi reiterated this wish yesterday, telling reporters, “I encourage Iran to facilitate such a meeting in the not-too-distant future so that we can establish a constructive dialogue that leads swiftly to real results.”
While Grossi repeated his previous claims about Iran’s nuclear activities, he expressed optimism that his meeting with the Iranian president would herald a new chapter of mutual cooperation.
Iran, on the other hand, has consistently critiqued the director-general’s reports for their political undertones overshadowing the technical facets. Nonetheless, the political shift in Iran, with a reformist government espousing dialogue to resolve disputes, presents a fresh opportunity for the IAEA and Western parties to the nuclear deal, namely the US and the E3 (Germany, France, and the UK), to embrace positive change.
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