Iranian nuclear officials were credited last week for improving dialogue with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency after announcing that Tehran agreed to reinstall 20 cameras once removed inside its nuclear facilities. 

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the IAEA, visited Iran last week and met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Grossi announced that the country has agreed to reinstall the equipment. He noted that the decision represented a “marked improvement, at least in terms of my dialogue with the Iranian government.

“Iran, on a voluntary basis, will allow the watchdog to implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities,” the agency said in a statement. The Financial Times, citing the statement, said Iran had “expressed its readiness” to co-operate on other outstanding “safeguarding issues.”

Besides the cameras, Grossi said Tehran agreed to a 50 percent increase in inspections at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and access to people of interest in an investigation into uranium traces at undeclared sites, DW.com reported. IAEA inspectors found uranium particles enriched to about 84 percent at the enrichment plant, which is just under the 90 percent weapons-grade level.

Grossi offered pledges that could “pave the way” for the renewal of the 2015 deal, Grossi said.

TRENDPOST: The Western media wants you to be worried about Iran obtaining nuclear capabilities, so it was not surprising that few outlets covered Grossi’s statement. Instead, they quickly tamped down his comments about Iran’s cooperation. 

The Guardian reported that Grossi told a press conference on Monday that the camera agreement still needs further conversations. He said the agency and Iran still must clarify what data Iran will provide from these cameras.

The paper said, “Grossi, a highly experienced Argentinian diplomat, has extracted Iranian promises before to restore the inspectors’ previous level of access that European powers and the US feel were not delivered, so in a context of minimal trust the west will want to examine how precise and bankable are the latest set of voluntary commitments that Iran offered Grossi in Tehran.”

Grossi’s visit comes as the West and Iran are in a diplomatic stalemate vis-à-vis the 2015 nuclear deal. Israel and the U.S. have warned Iran against its nuclear development and showed a willingness to act militarily to stop the program. (See “MIDDLE EAST MELTDOWN: NETANYAHU IS PREPARING FOR AN ATTACK ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES AFTER SECRET MEETINGS” 28 Feb 2023, “GANTZ: ISRAEL CAN STRIKE IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES, BUT WARNS OF FALLOUT” 15 Nov 2022, and “BIDEN: IRAN ‘CANNOT GET A NUCLEAR WEAPON’ WILL GO WAR TO STOP THEM” 19 Jul 2022.)

Grossi seemed to brush off requests for details about the Iranian commitments.

“Why don’t you let us do our job? You know, unless you want to join us as an inspector—which could be interesting, who knows? We know how to do these things,” he said, according to The Washington Examiner. “What the agency does is that, at certain moments in the process, we come up with evaluations. And—as we have done—[if] we are not getting anything or we are not going anywhere with this process, then we report it… we complain, if you want.”