#UN atomic watchdog chief heads to Iran to inspect nuclear storage sites

The director of the UN’s atomic watchdog group is heading to Iran next week to press the country’s leaders to access nuclear storage sites, according to reports.

The visit by Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will focus on access to sites from before the country signed an international treaty in 2015 promising to limit its nuclear activities and allow international inspectors into the country in exchange for lifting crippling economic sanctions. The deal was signed amid international concerns that Iran was secretly developing a nuclear weapon.

President Trump pulled the US out of the accord in 2018, and since then the other signatories — France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany — have been trying to keep it alive.

“My objective is that my meetings in Tehran will lead to concrete progress in addressing the outstanding questions that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the issue of access,” Grossi said in a statement. “I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian government which will be valuable now and in the future.”