IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi is calling for an urgent meeting with Iran’s new foreign minister, saying they need to come to an agreement to revive the additional monitoring deal which was signed in February, which he warns is “no longer intact.”
That it isn’t intact should be no surprise, as it was a temporary deal, was extended once, and expired around the time of Iran’s last election. The assumption was that a deal with the Biden government would restore it, but little progress has been made on that front so far.
Grossi has been outspoken about the monitoring, even though everything is in the place where deals have put it. Grossi has made it public he wants more monitoring access, but has not seriously attempted to negotiate that, instead issuing alarmist statements that almost certainly won’t grease the wheels of diplomacy.
Iran’s current FM, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has a long history in international diplomacy. Making new monitoring deals will likely depend on parliament’s approval, as it was parliament’s objections that led to the old monitoring status quo being ended.