BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 17. Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can address existing minor issues, the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on his X page, Trend reports.
In his social media post, Gharibabadi stated that during his meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, discussions focused on resolving remaining issues, nuclear facility security, recent developments regarding nuclear matters, and the lifting of sanctions.
He underscored the extensive historical synergy between Iran and the IAEA, highlighting their longstanding collaborative framework.
"In the absence of extrinsic political influences, we are positioned to implement autonomous, technical, impartial, and expert measures in conjunction with the agency. Concurrently, Iran, while prioritizing its sovereign interests and security protocols, continues to affirm its commitment to engage with the IAEA in alignment with its safeguard obligations," he noted.
The IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi previously mentioned on March 3 that Iran had increased its enriched uranium stock to 275 kilograms, a significant rise from the previous quarter. Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to this level, which has raised concerns.
On February 14, the IAEA Director General Grossi reported that Iran is increasing the amount of uranium enriched to 60 percent by nearly seven times. In the coming weeks, Iran’s stock of 60 percent enriched uranium is expected to reach around 250 kilograms. Iran remains the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to this level, a development that has raised international concerns.
By the end of 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to pursue a strategic plan in the nuclear sector to counter the sanctions, leading to a suspension of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as per the nuclear agreement.
Consequently, the IAEA faced a reduction in monitoring capabilities by 20–30 percent.
Iran has officially affirmed that its strategy is not to pursue the development of an atomic bomb and that it does not support the production of weapons of mass destruction.
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