Iran needs to prove peaceful intent of nuclear program, UN watchdog says

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said on Thursday it was prepared to help Iran prove it did not seek a bomb, in comments Tehran blasted as politicized and a boon to adversaries.

"We want to make ourselves available, providing technically sound alternatives to eliminate the possibility that Iran develops a nuclear weapon, to prevent Iran, or to help Iran prove that they don't want to develop a nuclear weapon," Rafael Grossi told reporters at Japan’s National Press Club.

"We hear the government say that. But as somebody said, we trust everybody, but we need to verify. So until we can have a very, very comprehensive watertight system of verification, we will not be satisfied."

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon but the United States assesses that it seeks such a capability and Israel sees its arch-foe wanting a bomb to destroy it.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued a statement shortly after condemning Grossi's remarks as biased and inaccurate, saying "the burden of proof is on the claimant.”

"The IAEA director general, as a senior official of an important international organization, is expected to speak and act impartially, professionally, and without political bias," it said.

"At a time when the United States and certain Western countries are attempting to misuse the IAEA to exert unjust pressure on Iran, such politically motivated and unprofessional statements could serve as a pretext for their illegitimate ambitions.”

Time may be running out for a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff.

The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported last week citing US intelligence findings from last month that Israel saw an opening for an attack on Iranian nuclear sites as early as the first half of this year.

Iran is involved in ongoing negotiations with the so-called E3 European countries - Britain, France and Germany - who were signatories of a now largely defunct 2015 international deal over Iran's nuclear program.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran could fend off an attack by its enemies, after rejecting an overture from Trump for a deal over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but Israel insists aims at building a bomb.

JCPOA

Despite calling his recent visit to Iran constructive, Grossi said, “Iran is not still cooperating as we would like them to do.”

Grossi described a 2015 nuclear agreement, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as outdated and in need of a replacement albeit with a similar philosophy of Western economic incentives exchanged for Iranian curbing of enrichment.

"I discussed this with the foreign minister of Iran, Mr. (Abbas) Araghchi, maybe what you can have is the same philosophy of JCPOA, which is tit for tat. Which is, I restrain my activities in exchange for incentives - financial, economical or otherwise. But beyond this, I think it is no longer applicable," Grossi said.

"The JCPOA is an empty shell," Grossi added. "The JCPOA talked about one type of centrifuges but they have much more. They are enriching at 60% or almost weapon level, so it is a completely different nuclear program.”

The 2015 nuclear deal, signed by the Islamic Republic and six world powers, was aimed to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief. However, during his first term, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, reinstating sanctions.

In response, Tehran reduced its commitments, and in 2020, its parliament passed a law restricting IAEA inspections beyond the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.