Rafael Grossi Announces Upcoming Trip to Tehran

Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), announced his upcoming trip to Tehran for "political and technical meetings" with Iranian officials. On the evening of Monday, September 17, following a meeting with Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, in Vienna, Mr. Grossi wrote on the social media platform X that they agreed on the necessity of maintaining communication and interaction between the parties. The IAEA Director General further stated: "I will soon travel to Tehran for important political and technical meetings." The meeting took place on Monday, the first day of the 68th annual General Conference of the IAEA in Vienna. In his opening speech at this conference, Rafael Grossi emphasized that he is "eagerly looking forward to engaging with the new government" of Iran to obtain necessary assurances from the Islamic Republic regarding the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear energy program. Concurrently, Mohammad Eslami also posted on Instagram about his meeting with Mr. Grossi, describing it as "positive" and "a step forward." This Iranian official criticized what he called "psychological pressure and black propaganda" regarding Iran's nuclear activities and stated that Iran's relationship with the IAEA "continues in a sustainable manner." These remarks by Mohammad Eslami come as the IAEA has warned about the increase in uranium enrichment activities in Iran, noting in its latest report that as of August 18, Iran possessed "more than 164 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent," thus being only one technical step away from 90 percent enriched uranium, which is used for military purposes. Issues related to safeguards and the origin of enriched uranium particles at undeclared sites in Iran are also concerns for the agency, which has called for explanations from Tehran regarding these matters.