IAEA deputy director general to visit Iran

VIENNA, Austria — The deputy director general of the UN's nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran next week, sources said Saturday, against a backdrop of tension over curbs on the agency's inspections there.

Iran's ambassador to the UN in Vienna Kazem Gharibabadi announced the visit on Twitter, adding that "the purpose of the visit is in line with routine safeguards activities in the context of the CSA," referring to one of the agreements under which the IAEA conducts its inspections. 

"We are in continuous contact," he added, but there were no pre-planned talks in Tehran.

A European diplomatic source confirmed the visit and said it was principally going to be a visit to the Natanz enrichment facility "to check that inspectors have access to the cascades" of centrifuges used for uranium enrichment.

Iran had limited IAEA access to the site after an explosion on April 11, but access should be "fully" re-established in the next few days, said the same source.

Iran said the explosion had been a sabotage attempt by Israel. 

Asked by AFP to confirm the trip, an IAEA spokesman said: "As part of the Agency's implementation of its safeguards activities in Iran, Deputy Director General Aparo regularly travels to Iran."

- A delicate time -

Aparo's visit will come at a delicate time after a temporary agreement covering inspections at Iranian nuclear facilities expired last week.

In late February, Iran limited the IAEA's access to nuclear sites it has been monitoring as part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

A three-month agreement reached on February 21 allowed some inspections to continue and that was extended by another month in May.

Under that deal, Iran pledged to keep recordings "of some activities and monitoring equipment" and hand them over to the IAEA as and when US sanctions are lifted.

On Tuesday, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabii said Iran was "examining" whether to extend the temporary agreement. 

The issue is weighing on the talks, which have been taking place in Vienna with the goal of reviving the 2015 deal.

Diplomats ended the last round of negotiations with Enrique Mora, the EU diplomat chairing the talks, saying "we are closer to a deal". But a date for reconvening has not been set.

The 2015 accord ensured some relief from UN and Western sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict curbs on its nuclear programme.

But the deal has been unravelling ever since former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

Tehran retaliated by disregarding most of the limits set down in the deal on its nuclear programme.