Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) – speaks between Iran And the United States on the nuclear program in advance of Tehran is “at a very crucial stage,” said the United Nations nuclear surveillance for the Islamic Republic on Thursday.
The comments of Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Tehran included recognition that his agency would probably be the key to the verification of compliance by Iran if an agreement was concluded. Iran and the United States Rome back to Rome on Saturday For a new series of discussions after last weekend First meeting in Oman.
Grosi’s visit also coincided with the Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia, Prince Khalid Bin Salman, visiting Tehran as the highest official in the kingdom to visit Iran since the two countries reached a Chinese mediation relaxation in 2023. It was then that Saudi Arabia tried to end its decadelong war against the Houthi rebels supported by Iran in Yemen – even as a new one, Intense campaign for American air strikes targets.
The challenges of negotiations on Saturday and the broader geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could not be higher, especially as The War of Israel-Hamas raged in the Gaza strip. President Donald Trump has threatened several times To release air strikes Target Iran’s nuclear program if an agreement is not concluded. Iranian officials warn more and more that they could pursue a nuclear weapon With their stock of uranium enriched at levels close to the quality of weapons.
Grosi visits during the “crucial” discussions of the United States
Grossi arrived in Iran on Wednesday evening and met the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is now in Moscow for separate talks probably on negotiations. Thursday, Grosi met Mohammad Eslami, the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, then made a tour in a room featuring some of the Iranian civil nuclear projects.
“We know that we are in a very crucial stadium, I would say, of this important negotiation, so I want to focus on the positive,” said Grosi to Iranian Media. “There is a possibility of good results. Nothing is guaranteed. We must make sure that we put all the elements in place … in order to go to this agreement. ”
He added: “We know that we don’t have much time. This is why I am here. This is why I am also in contact with the United States.”
Asked about Trump’s threats to attack Iran, Grosi urged people to “focus on our goal”.
“Once we have achieved our goal, all these things will evaporate because there will be no reason to worry,” he said.
For its part, Eslami said that Iran expected the IEA “maintaining impartiality and acting professionally,” said a report by the IRNA news agency managed by the State.
Since the collapse of the nuclear agreement in 2018 with the unilateral withdrawal of Trump from the United States from the agreement, Iran has abandoned all the limits of its program and enriches uranium up to 60% of purity – near the levels of quality of weapons of 90%.
Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran prohibited The most experienced inspectors of the agency based in Vienna. Iranian officials have also increasingly threatened to continue atomic weapons, which the West and the AIEA have been worried for years since Tehran abandoned a weapon program organized in 2003.
Despite the tensions between Iran and the agency, its access was not completely revoked. But Grossi recognized in an interview with French newspaper that “Iran has enough equipment to build not one but several bombs”.
“It’s like a puzzle puzzle; they have the pieces and one day they could assemble them,” he told the world. “There is still a long way to go before it happens. But they are not far away, of course.”
The Saudi prince becomes the highest visitor in the kingdom in Tehran for decades
Prince Khalid Bin Salman, the son of King Salman and the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, arrived in Tehran on Thursday. The Iranian chief of staff, General Mohammad Bagheri, praised the prince on his arrival and an honor guard played for the two men.
Prince Khalid, fighter pilot, has become the Saudi Prime Minister of Defense to visit Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. He is also the highest Saudi row to visit in decades. The last was King Abdullah bin AbdulazizWho did it as a crown prince in 1997 for an Islamic cooperation meeting of the organization held in Tehran.
The Saudi news agency led by the State, announcing the arrival of the prince, said that its trip would understand “a certain number of meetings to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and questions of common interest”, without developing.
The visit is important, in particular given the decades of enmity between the two countries. Saudi Arabia has been trying to try A peace agreement concluded with the Houthis. A de facto ceasefire largely interrupted hostilities during the war, although the Houthis have increasingly threatened Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the midst of American air strikes.
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Vahdat reported in Tehran, Iran. The writer of Associated Press Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.
