Iran agrees to visit by team from UN nuclear watchdog in coming weeks

The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the (nuclear) sites, said Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister

Iran has agreed to allow a technical team from the UN nuclear watchdog to visit in the coming weeks to discuss relations between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Wednesday. 

"The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the (nuclear) sites," he told reporters during a visit to New York for meetings at the United Nations. 

The IAEA had no specific comment on his remarks, but said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi was "actively engaging with all parties involved in the Iran nuclear issue." The IAEA has said it is essential for it to be able to resume inspections in Iran following air strikes by Israel and the U.S. last month that aimed to destroy the country's nuclear programme in a bid to stop Tehran building a nuclear weapon. 

Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes. 

"Our Atomic Energy Organization is assessing, actually, the damages to the nuclear installations, and we are waiting to receive their report. In this regard, it's a very dangerous work. We do not know what has happened there ... because of the risks of the radiation," Gharibabadi said. 

Diplomats have in particular raised concerns about the fate of some 400 kg of highly enriched uranium stocks, which Iran has not updated the IAEA on. 

Gharibabadi said the IAEA has not officially asked about the fate of those stocks and that Tehran "cannot say anything now because we do not have any valid and credible report from (Iran's) Atomic Energy Organisation." 

Any negotiations over Iran's future nuclear programme will require its cooperation with the IAEA, which angered Iran in June by declaring on the eve of the Israeli strikes that Tehran was violating non-proliferation treaty commitments. 

Gharibabadi said he would travel to Istanbul to meet with Britain, France and Germany on Friday. They, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal that the U.S. quit in 2018. Under the deal, sanctions on Iran were eased in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme. 

Separately, Tehran and Washington have this year held five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Gharibabadi said these are focused on negotiating transparency measures by Iran with regard to its nuclear program and the lifting of US sanctions.