Iran has agreed to host a technical team from the UN's nuclear watchdog to discuss future co-operation, its deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday, while cautiously signalling openness to renewed talks with the US.
The development comes after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian this month ended co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and said it could only be restored if the agency addressed Iranian concerns over its perceived bias.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister and lead nuclear negotiator, said the IAEA team would arrive in Tehran in two to three weeks to negotiate a “new modality” for continued engagement.
“The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the [nuclear] sites,” Mr Gharibabadi told reporters in New York. “Why are they insisting to send inspectors there if those facilities have been obliterated? There shouldn’t be any request to go there, unless they are seeking to see how effective the attacks were.”
Iran’s nuclear sites were severely damaged last month in US strikes.
The deputy foreign minister said Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation was still assessing the extent of the damage but offered no further details. The planned IAEA visit comes amid heightened mistrust between Tehran and the agency.
Despite expressing “dissatisfaction” with the IAEA’s recent conduct, Mr Gharibabadi described the coming visit as a goodwill gesture. “I hope that it would be welcomed and they would value such co-operation and good faith,” he said.
He described scheduled talks on Friday in Istanbul with the E3 – Britain, France, and Germany – as “very important”, noting that the European countries had approached Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a bid to “manage the situation” and de-escalate tension.
The three European powers, along with China and Russia, remain signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme. The US withdrew from the deal in 2018 during President Donald Trump's first term.
“We have very constructive and good relations with China and Russia … we have always co-ordinated our positions when it comes to the nuclear issue, the negotiations, even the aggression and also now the snapback,” Mr Gharibabadi said.
The E3 have warned they may move to activate the “snapback” mechanism under the nuclear deal, which would reinstate all previous UN sanctions on Iran if negotiations with the US do not resume or fail to yield results by the end of August.
The snapback option would remain valid until October 18, when the Security Council resolution underpinning the deal is set to expire.
“On Friday, we will discuss on this issue with the Europeans to see that how we should prevent a snapback and how we should prevent more complicating the situation,” Mr Gharibabadi said.
“Possibly, they may come to the table ... with new ideas, we are open to that. We will listen to them to see what are their ideas in this regard.”
While not ruling out renewed negotiations with Washington, Mr Gharibabadi emphasised that any future talks must come with clear guarantees, including assurances that Iran would not be attacked militarily during the negotiation process and that any eventual agreement would be reciprocal.
“The calls for negotiations have never stopped, even one or two days after the Israeli aggression, and even after the armed attack of the United States on our peaceful nuclear facilities, we have received requests and calls for negotiations,” he said.
He added that even following the announcement of a “so-called” ceasefire, Tehran continues to receive overtures for renewed talks. “We have not rejected them, but there are some issues around the negotiations,” he said.
Mr Gharibabadi said a lack of consistency from Washington was a key obstacle in the five rounds of indirect talks already held with US officials.
“One of the problems we had was the continuous change in the American position," he said. "Unfortunately, we would come to a common understanding at the negotiating table, and then 24 hours later we would hear a completely different position, either through the media or directly from US officials. Iran is not against diplomacy and the resumption of negotiations."
