ROME/TEHRAN: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday he might head to Iran in the coming days to discuss its disputed atomic programme and that he expected to work cooperatively with US president-elect Donald Trump.

Grossi had previously said he hoped to go to Tehran ahead of the Nov 5 US vote as he seeks to resolve several long-standing issues that have dogged relations between Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Western powers.

Ahead of the US election there had been signs Tehran was ready to re-engage with European parties to the collapsed 2015 deal — Britain, France and Germany — and the US to find a way to revive talks in the hope of getting US sanctions relaxed.

“We are already talking to colleagues in Iran for my next visit maybe in a few days. We still have to confirm the time but this will be done,” he told a news conference in Rome after a nuclear energy event.

Without confirming it, Iranian officials have welcomed a visit from Grossi, saying Tehran is ready to cooperate with the IAEA to resolve outstanding issues, without giving details.

Issues at stake include Tehran’s barring of uranium-enrichment experts from IAEA inspection teams in the country and its failure for years to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

Another main concern for Tehran, though, is the potential for the re-elected Trump to empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iranian nuclear sites, carry out assassinations and reimpose his “maximum pressure” policy through heightened sanctions on the country’s oil industry.

Tehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, close to the roughly 90pc required for an atom bomb.

US-Iran relations

When Donald Trump was last in the White House, he pursued a policy of ‘maximum pressure’ against the Islamic republic of Iran, including punishing sanctions. Now that he is set to begin another term as US president in January, anxiety is mounting in Tehran that more of the same will follow.

At an election rally on Tuesday, Trump said he wanted Iran to be a “very successful country” but that it “can’t have nuclear weapons”.

“It will be harmful for Iran,” said 37-year-old Bashir Abbaspour, who works at a private company, reflecting widespread concern in Iran as news broke on Wednesday of Trump’s victory. Iranians best remember Trump for his campaign of intensified sanctions and Washington’s 2018 withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal that offered Tehran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear ambitions.

“The sanctions will increase, and with that, the prices will too. It’s not a good thing for Iran,” Abbaspour said of Trump’s comeback.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office in Iran in July, has said he sought to shore up ties with West and revive the nuclear deal and end Iran’s isolation. But in recent weeks, Araghchi has said indirect nuclear talks with the United States have stopped because of regional tension.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2024