Engagement With IAEA Needs to Be Two-Way Street

Iran’s engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency has been one-sided while it is expected to be a two-way street, a lawmaker said. 
“We have had all sorts of cooperation with the agency but have seen no outcome,” Mohammad Hassan Asafari told ICANA. 
The agency should explain what advantages these collaborations offer Iran, he added. 
“If Tehran-IAEA engagement is set to remain one-sided, we will certainly make different decisions,” the lawmaker said. 
His remarks came in response to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who had said in a press conference early this month that cooperation with Iran was not satisfactory.
Grossi visited the Iranian capital in March to resolve certain ambiguities over the country’s nuclear activity. The two sides reached a joint agenda for measures to facilitate bilateral cooperation.
As a result, accusations about Iran’s enrichment of uranium to nearly 84% have reportedly been withdrawn following explanations provided by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. 
Moreover, 10 surveillance cameras were brought back into operation at a centrifuge manufacturing workshop in Isfahan Province, according to Iranian officials. 
The director general, however, said later in the briefing that the implementation of the deal has been “extremely slow”.
“Cooperation with Iran continues but not at the level that I would like it to be,” he said. “I have told this to my Iranian counterparts.” 
Asafari accused the agency of adopting a security-political approach toward Iran’s nuclear activity. 
“If the agency proceeds with this course … Iran will make other decisions about the continuation of cooperation,” he said, stressing that the IAEA’s duty is to monitor Iran’s activities from a technical point of view. 
He also asserted that further cooperation with the agency has led to an increase in pressure and sanctions against the country. 
“It was expected of the agency to at least take a measure toward the removal or reduction of sanctions against Iran, or send its verification reports to other member states,” he said. 
“Instead of taking [anti-Iran] stances, Grossi should explain what effects his reports of Iran have had on the removal of reduction of sanctions, or what measures he has taken to uphold the nuclear rights of Iran,” Asafari said. 
Since 2018, Iran has been under sweeping sanctions that the United States reimposed following its exit from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
In response, Tehran has also taken countermeasures that included changes in the level of cooperation with the agency. 
Negotiations have been underway since early 2021 to restore the deal, but have been stalled since last August.