"Grossi" Announces Return of First Team of Nuclear Inspectors to Iran

SadaNews - Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, announced on Tuesday evening that the first team of agency inspectors has returned to Iran, confirming that he will hold talks with Iranian officials regarding the nuclear sites to be inspected and facilitate the inspectors’ tasks.

He clarified that inspections "are not easy but not impossible," emphasizing that any serious dialogue with Tehran cannot occur without visiting its nuclear facilities.

Grossi's statements come after a round of negotiations in Geneva between Iran and the European troika (Britain, France, Germany), where Tehran warned that the re-imposition of United Nations sanctions would have consequences, while European powers threaten to activate the "rapid return mechanism for sanctions" by next October as the deadline for the 2015 nuclear agreement approaches.

For its part, Iran confirmed through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baghaei that the troika is not legally authorized to reimpose sanctions, while Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharib Abadi stressed Tehran's commitment to diplomacy and finding solutions "that benefit everyone."

In contrast, Western powers insist that any postponement of sanctions is conditional on Iran returning to comprehensive inspections and providing a full account of its enriched uranium stockpile, in addition to engaging in the diplomatic track.

This comes amid tense atmospheres following the U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, where Tel Aviv and Washington justified these strikes as necessary to halt Iran's progress towards producing a nuclear weapon, while Tehran denies any intention to develop atomic bombs.