Ayatollah Khamenei. Image Credit: Tasnim News, CC BY 4.0.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi has admitted that his organisation’s monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program is “no longer intact”.
Speaking in an interview with NBC News, Grossi said that Iran’s continued refusal to grant access to camera at the key nuclear facility of Karaj meant the world was “unable to reconstruct the picture” of what the Iranians are doing.
Grossi also said that Tehran had imposed roadblocks on developing even basic communications with the IAEA.
Since Ebrahim Raisi became Iranian president in the summer, Grossi revealed that he had had no contact even with Iran’s new foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
“I have never spoken to the new foreign minister”, Grossi said. “I hope to be able to have the opportunity to meet with him soon because it’s very important […] so when there is a problem, when there is misunderstanding, when there is disagreement, we can talk about it.”
He lamented how he “used to have [such channels] before”.
The IAEA usually attempts to keep conflicts of this kind quiet.
However, with more than four months since the most recent nuclear negotiations with Iran, and little sign from Tehran of an inclination to resume them, Grossi’s patience appeared to be wearing thin.