Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi will travel to the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday evening leading a high-ranking delegation from the agency, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) reported on its website on Thursday.
Grossi’s visit was at the official invitation of AEOI President Mohammad Eslami, it added.
During the two-day visit, the IAEA chief will meet the AEOI president as well as other senior Iranian officials, IRNA said, adding Grossi will leave Tehran for Vienna on Saturday.
Over the past months, the IAEA has criticized Iran for its lack of cooperation with the agency. On Nov. 17, 2022, the IAEA’s Board of Governors passed a resolution proposed by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany that called on Iran to collaborate with the agency’s investigators regarding the alleged “traces of uranium” at a number of its “undeclared” sites. Iran has repeatedly rejected such allegations.
On Feb. 19, Bloomberg cited two senior diplomats as claiming that IAEA inspectors in Iran had detected uranium enriched to levels “just below that needed for a nuclear weapon.” On the same day, AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by IRNA as saying that the Bloomberg report was a “distortion of the facts” and part of a smear campaign. ■
