WASHINGTON
\nThe head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has said a team of its inspectors are \u201cback in Iran,\u201d the first to enter since Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities this year. Iran suspended cooperation with the UN\u2019s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following a 12-day war with Israel in June, with Tehran pointing to the IAEA\u2019s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.
\n\u201cNow the first team of IAEA inspectors is back in Iran, and we are about to restart,\u201d director general Rafael Grossi told Fox News\u2019 \u201cThe Story\u201d in an interview aired on Tuesday.\u201dWhen it comes to Iran, as you know, there are many facilities. Some were attacked, some were not,\u201d Grossi said.
\n\u201cSo we are discussing what kind of […] practical modalities can be implemented in order to facilitate the restart of our work there.\u201d
\nThe announcement came as Iran held talks with Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Tuesday, with Tehran seeking to avert a sanctions snapback which the European powers have threatened to impose under a moribund 2015 nuclear deal. Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who attended the talks, said it was \u201chigh time\u201d for the European trio \u201cto make the right choice and give diplomacy time and space\u201d.
\nBritain, France and Germany \u2014 parties to the 2015 deal \u2014 have threatened to trigger the accord\u2019s \u201csnapback mechanism\u201d by the end of August.Tuesday\u2019s meeting was the second round of talks with European diplomats since the end of the June war, which was triggered by an unprecedented Israeli surprise attack.
\nThe conflict derailed Iran\u2019s nuclear negotiations with the United States.It also cast a chill on Iran\u2019s ties with the IAEA, with Tehran blaming the UN agency in part for the attacks on its nuclear facilities. Israel says it launched the attacks to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon \u2014 an ambition Tehran has repeatedly denied.The 2015 nuclear deal was torpedoed in 2018 when Donald Trump, during his first term as president, unilaterally withdrew the United States and slapped sanctions on Iran.
\nMeanwhile, the European trio \u2014 parties to the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal \u2014 have threatened to trigger the accord\u2019s \u201csnapback mechanism\u201d by the end of August. The move would reimpose sweeping UN sanctions lifted under the agreement unless Iran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment and restore cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has said a team of its inspectors are \u201cback in Iran,\u201d the first to enter since Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities this year. Iran suspended cooperation with the UN\u2019s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following a 12-day war with Israel in June, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-499496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n