Iran Says Talks with IAEA Will Be ‘Technical’ and ‘Complicated’ Ahead of Agency’s Planned Visit
Talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will be “technical” and “complicated,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said Monday ahead of a visit by the nuclear watchdog for the first time since Tehran cut ties with the organization last month.
Relations between the two soured after a 12-day air war was waged by Israel and the US in June, which saw key Iranian nuclear facilities bombed. The IAEA board said on June 12 Iran had breached its non-proliferation obligations, a day before Israel’s airstrikes over Iran that sparked the war.
The IAEA did not immediately issue a statement about the visit by the agency’s deputy head, which will not include any planned access to Iranian nuclear sites.
Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters there could be a meeting with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, “but it is a bit soon to predict what the talks will result since these are technical talks, complicated talks.”
Baghaei also criticized the IAEA’s “unique situation” during the June war with Israel.
“Peaceful facilities of a country that was under 24-hour monitoring were the target of strikes and the agency refrained from showing a wise and rational reaction and did not condemn it as it was required,” he said.
