TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s nuclear chief said on Wednesday that Tehran has invited International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi to visit the country in May.
The Vienna-based UN agency has struggled since 2021 to carry out checks on Iran’s nuclear program, which continues to expand, even though Tehran denies it wants to build nuclear weapons.
Last month, Grossi expressed frustration over Iran’s nuclear activity, saying Tehran was “restricting cooperation in an unprecedented way”.
The IAEA head “has expressed his desire to go to Iran and this trip is on his agenda,” head of Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, told media.
“We have invited him to deliver a speech at the international conference on nuclear energy” which will be held from May 6-8 in the central city of Isfahan, he said further.
Iran suspended its compliance with limits on its nuclear activities set by a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers a year after then US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed massive sanctions.
Iran slowed its uranium enrichment programme last year in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture as informal talks with the United States began. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that it will accelerate enrichment again in the second half of 2023.
On Wednesday, Grossi met with the top US official on Iran affairs, Abram Paley, in Vienna before his possible trip.
Tehran has consistently denied any ambitions to develop a nuclear weapons capability and insists its activities are entirely peaceful.
In early February, Iran said it had started construction on a new nuclear research reactor in Isfahan, days after announcing it was building a nuclear power plant complex in the south.
