IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is visiting Tehran on Monday, in a move Iranian officials say is meant to strengthen ties, and which Grossi says aims to address “the issue of access” to a pair of putative nuclear sites.
The sites in question are a pair of sites that the IAEA has claimed might have been nuclear sites, based on Israeli allegations and US backing of Israeli allegations. The US has pushed the IAEA to investigate the sites.
Iran did grant the IAEA access before, and it didn’t find anything definitive one way or another. They’ve kept asking for extra visits, even though Iran insisted neither was relevant to their nuclear program, and that letting them just keep visiting keeps it unresolved forever.
This puts things in an endless loop, where the US will ensure the IAEA keeps saying the issue is open, and Iran can’t resolve the matter outright, and has to just keep responding or be accused of a coverup.
IAEA Chief Visits Tehran, Asks for Access to Former Sites
Iran interested in building trust, but has resisted countless visits
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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