“We have agreed actually to accept a delegation of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], a technical delegation, to visit Iran very soon, in two to three weeks,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told reporters.
Earlier in July, President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA, blocking inspectors from entering the country until Iran receives guarantees protecting its nuclear infrastructure.
Pezeshkian claimed that Israeli intelligence may have obtained sensitive information from IAEA inspectors.
“The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the [nuclear] sites,” Gharibabadi clarified.
A fresh round of nuclear talks between Iran and European powers is set to take place in Istanbul on Friday, the first discussions since the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities last month, and after Israel launched surprise military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and senior commanders on June 13.
Washington on June 24 brokered a ceasefire to the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later declared victory, claiming that US President Donald Trump had exaggerated the destruction caused by US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Under a 2015 deal with world powers - formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - Iran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions.
But the deal began unraveling in 2018 when Washington, under President Donald Trump’s first term, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic, which in turn began rolling back on its nuclear commitments.
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