On Saturday, Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharibabadi announced that Grossi would visit the Iranian capital this weekend and was expected to meet with the leadership of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on Sunday.
A source told Press TV on Saturday that during the visit, IAEA’s access to cameras will remain off, and the agency will not get to see surveillance footage from Iranian nuclear sites.
Grossi is expected to return to Vienna on Monday to report to the IAEA chair of the board. Ahead of the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Iran nuclear deal by phone with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, agreeing that restoring the deal in its original balanced configuration is the only correct way to ensure the rights and interests of all parties involved.
European External Action Service (EEAS) Deputy Secretary General Enrique Mora and Iranian Deputy at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi wait for the start of talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in Vienna, Austria June 20, 2021
© REUTERS / EU Delegation in Vienna
In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or the Iran nuclear deal) with the P5+1 group of countries (the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom - plus Germany) and the European Union. It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the Trump administration abandoned the US conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran, prompting Iran to largely abandon its obligations under the accord.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington is getting closer to the point when a strict return to compliance with the JCPOA does not reproduce the benefits that the agreement achieved when it was initially signed.