<figure id="attachment_2915214" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2915214" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-2915214" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/94943a28-iran-nuclear.jpg" alt="Iran nuclear" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2915214" class="wp-caption-text">Iran has consistently insisted that its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes. (AFP pic)</figcaption></figure>
TEHRAN: The UN nuclear watchdog&#8217;s chief Rafael Grossi warned that Iran was &#8220;not far&#8221; from possessing a nuclear bomb, shortly before he arrived in Tehran yesterday for talks.
Western countries including the US have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons – an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.
&#8220;It&#8217;s like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together,&#8221; Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published yesterday.
&#8220;There&#8217;s still a way to go before they get there. But they&#8217;re not far off, that has to be acknowledged,&#8221; he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog was tasked with overseeing Iran&#8217;s nuclear programme and its compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal which collapsed three years later when the US withdrew from it during President Donald Trump&#8217;s first term.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not enough to tell the international community &#8216;we don&#8217;t have nuclear weapons&#8217; for them to believe you. We need to be able to verify,&#8221; said IAEA chief Grossi.
He arrived in Tehran yesterday and met foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, who posted on X that the pair had had a &#8220;useful discussion&#8221;.
Araghchi called on the IAEA boss to &#8220;keep the agency away from politics&#8221; in the face of &#8220;spoilers&#8221; vying to &#8220;derail current negotiations&#8221;.
Grossi posted ahead of the meeting that Tehran&#8217;s cooperation with the IAEA was &#8220;indispensable to provide credible assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran&#8217;s nuclear programme at a time when diplomacy is urgently needed&#8221;.
Grossi was also expected to meet Mohammad Eslami, who heads Iran&#8217;s nuclear energy agency.
&#8216;Maximum pressure&#8217;
<figure id="attachment_2800068" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2800068" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-2800068" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/5144ae8b-iran_nuclear_uranium.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2800068" class="wp-caption-text">The IAEA said Iran has an estimated 274.8kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% in its latest report. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran/AP pic)</figcaption></figure>
Grossi&#8217;s visit comes ahead of a second round of talks between Iran and the US on Saturday, a week after the two countries held their highest-level talks since Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in 2018.
Both Tehran and Washington called the first meeting &#8220;constructive&#8221;.
Earlier, Araghchi said Iran&#8217;s enrichment of uranium was not up for discussion, after US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff called for it to end.
&#8220;We are ready to build confidence in response to possible concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable,&#8221; he told reporters.
His remarks came after Witkoff said Tuesday that Iran must &#8220;stop and eliminate&#8221; enriching uranium as part of any nuclear deal.
The day before, Witkoff had urged only that Iran return to the 3.67% enrichment ceiling set by its 2015 accord with major powers.
In its latest report, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8kg of uranium enriched to up to 60%.
That level far exceeds the ceiling set by the 2015 deal, but still falls short of the 90% threshold required for a nuclear warhead.
After returning to office in January, Trump re-imposed sweeping sanctions against Iran under his &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221; policy.
In March, he wrote to Iran&#8217;s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging talks but also warning of possible military action if these fail to produce a deal.
&#8216;Conflicting positions&#8217;
Ahead of Saturday&#8217;s new round of talks, Araghchi condemned what he called the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;contradictory and conflicting positions&#8221;.
&#8220;We will find out the true opinions of the Americans during the negotiation session,&#8221; he said.
Araghchi said he hoped to start negotiations on the framework of a possible agreement, but that this required &#8220;constructive positions&#8221; from the US.
&#8220;If we continue to (hear) contradictory and conflicting positions, we are going to have problems,&#8221; he warned.
Yesterday, Iranian state media said Saturday&#8217;s talks would be held in Rome with Omani mediation, as an Italian spokesman also confirmed the location.
Iran&#8217;s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, affirmed to state television late yesterday that the talks would be held in Rome.
He also noted that Iran&#8217;s request is that &#8220;if the other party is serious about the negotiations, they should come with logical requests, not unrealistic ones&#8221;, referring to Witkoff&#8217;s enrichment remarks.
Araghchi is set to head to Iran&#8217;s ally Russia today, said Kazem Jalili, Tehran&#8217;s ambassador in Moscow.
Iran has said the visit was &#8220;pre-planned&#8221;, but will include discussions on the Iran-US talks.
Ahead of Saturday&#8217;s talks, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he hoped a deal could be reached with the US, the official Irna news agency reported.

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