FM Araqchi says Iran to work with IAEA, but inspections may be risky
Iran plans to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog despite restrictions imposed by its parliament, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, but stressed that access to its bombed nuclear sites posed security and safety issues.
The new law stipulates that any future inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security body.
“The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions … are serious,” state media cited Araqchi as saying. “For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect … and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined.”
While Iran’s cooperation with the nuclear watchdog has not stopped, it will take a new form and will be guided and managed through the Supreme National Security Council, Araqchi told Tehran-based diplomats.
On Tuesday, the Iranian FM said Tehran remains interested in diplomacy, adding that he and U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy had been “on the cusp of a historic breakthrough” before the “Israel-Iran” war.
The comments, contained in an article written by Araqchi and published in the Financial Times newspaper, offered praise for Trump’s earlier negotiating efforts in a further indication that talks over Iran’s nuclear program may soon restart.
“In only five meetings over nine weeks, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and I achieved more than I did in four years of nuclear negotiations with the failed Biden administration. We were on the cusp of a historic breakthrough,” he wrote.
