Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), traveled to Tehran on Monday. Over the course of two days, he is conducting high-profile meetings with Iranian officials, including Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to discuss Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. This visit is of crucial importance, given the heightened tensions in the wider Middle East, particularly in relation to the Israel-Hamas war.
Upon completion of his Iran visit, Grossi is set to travel to Isfahan, the centrally located city in Iran, where the country’s nuclear program is headquartered. This comes in the wake of recent attacks that have endangered Isfahan, exacerbating the geopolitical tensions further.
In 2015, Iran entered into a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with multiple leading nations, pledging the peaceful intent of its nuclear program. This pact was subsequently endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015). Unfortunately, Iran’s relationship with the IAEA has taken a hit post the US’s withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018. The discovery of uranium particles enriched to 83.7%, alarming close to weapon-grade enrichment of 90%, has further heightened the global concern.
Grossi stated recently that Iran was “weeks rather than months” away from having enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb. In response, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that Iran intends to maintain the peaceful use of nuclear technologies, and called for the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iran.
With Grossi’s visit to Iran, the world watches apprehensively to see how the narrative of Iran’s nuclear program unfolds, and the potential repercussions it could have on the global political landscape.