The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Gen. Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Tuesday he hoped meetings this week with Iranian officials, including the country’s new president, could lead to a breakthrough in oversight of the country’s nuclear program, a long-standing issue that has become all the more urgent as Israel has struck Iran twice amid growing tensions in the Middle East. (Peter Dejong/AP)

BAKU, Azerbaijan — The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Tuesday he hopes this week’s meetings with Iranian officials, including the country’s new president, could lead to a breakthrough in monitoring of the country’s nuclear program, a long-standing issue that has gained momentum. It is an emergency as Israel has struck Iran twice amid growing tensions in the Middle East.

Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will travel to Iran on Wednesday to meet for the first time President Masoud Pezeshkian, elected in July. Grossi said he hopes to build on positive discussions he had with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

“We have a problem that we have to solve,” Grossi said in an interview at the United Nations climate conference in Azerbaijan. “It is this gap, this lack of trust, that we should not allow to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy of using nuclear facilities as targets.”

He added: “There has been a dynamic of a desperate situation with Iran that we want to move beyond. »

Iran is rapidly advancing its nuclear program while increasing its stockpiles of enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels, all in defiance of international requirements, according to the IAEA. Iran says its program is for energy purposes, not weapons manufacturing.

Grossi’s visit comes as Israel and Iran have exchanged missile attacks in recent months after more than a year of war in Gaza, governed by Hamas, an Iran-backed group.

Grossi stressed that international law prohibits the attack on nuclear installations and that “it is obvious that this can have radiological consequences.” The Biden administration said last month that it had obtained assurances from Israel that it would not attack nuclear or oil sites.

A 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers limited Iran’s nuclear program, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. The agreement provided for the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran.

But that deal collapsed after Donald Trump’s administration withdrew the United States from it in 2018. This led Iran to abandon all limits on its program and enrich uranium to a level 60% purity.

Asked if the IAEA was concerned that Iran was developing a bomb, Grossi said he had “no information to support that.” He added that the inspectors’ job was not to “judge intentions” but rather to verify that what Iran was saying about its nuclear program was true.

Trump’s re-election last week raises questions about whether and how the new administration and Iran might engage.

Grossi said he worked with the first Trump administration, which he said did “transparent and professional work,” and that he looked forward to working with the second Trump administration.

“The circumstances have changed to the extent that the problem has become more serious than it was,” Grossi said. “The problem of not finding a solution.”

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