Advisor to Iran's Nuclear Negotiating Team: Resolve Agency Issues First, Then We Will Agree

Mohammad Marandi, an advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiating team, told the 'Al-Mayadeen' network that Tehran will not sign any agreement before resolving all issues related to the Agency. According to the Young Journalists Club, Marandi claimed that 'Western governments constantly lie about Iran's nuclear activities, and this has been proven today.' Marandi's remarks about the negotiations come as the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Tuesday, June 5, that Iran's enriched uranium stockpile has increased by more than a quarter over the past three months. Rafael Grossi addressed the Agency's Board of Governors, stating that this stockpile includes uranium enriched up to 20 percent and over 100 kilograms of high-enriched uranium up to 60 percent. According to a statement published on the IAEA's website on Tuesday, June 5, Grossi added that the Agency has been unable to carry out verification and monitoring activities related to the JCPOA for two years and three months, including regarding the production and inventory of centrifuges, heavy water, and uranium ore concentrate; this includes the period after Khordad 1401, during which no monitoring equipment related to the implementation of the JCPOA was installed or activated. The Islamic Republic ordered last year that the equipment installed under the JCPOA be removed. The United States has repeatedly emphasized the necessity of preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons, stating that diplomacy is the United States' top priority in achieving this goal. However, if Iran rejects the diplomatic path, 'all options are on the table to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.'