Iran will reconnect surveillance cameras at several nuclear sites and increase the frequency of inspections, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on Saturday.
“We have reached an agreement so that the cameras and surveillance systems will work again,” Grossi told reporters at the Vienna airport, returning from a two-day mission in Tehran.
This measure should be applied “very soon”, he commented, despite the fact that the joint statement published by the IAEA and the Iranian atomic energy organization does not give any precision in this regard.
On the other hand, Iran agreed to increase by 50% the number of inspections of the Fordo underground plant, where uranium particles enriched to 83.7% were recently detected, a level close to the 90% required to manufacture an atomic bomb.
Before leaving Iran, Grossi said that during his mission he had had “constructive talks” that could pave the way for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and the great powers.
Iran last year limited inspections and disconnected the cameras, at a time of sharp deterioration in its relations with Western powers.
The decision to reconnect them is “very, very important, particularly in view of reviving the 2015 deal” that limited Iran’s nuclear activities in return for a reduction in Western economic sanctions.
The 2015 agreement has been in its death throes since the United States withdrew from it in 2018, under the presidency of Donald Trump.
The Islamic Republic has been ignoring various commitments in that agreement ever since.
Talks to revive him began in 2021, but have been paralyzed since last year.
In November 2022, Western countries criticized Iran’s lack of cooperation following the discovery of enriched uranium at three undeclared facilities.
According to the IAEA, Iran’s enriched uranium reserves totaled 3,760.8 kilograms as of February 12, 18 times more than the limit authorized by the 2015 agreement.