ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday that based on their field inspections, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not have a nuclear weapon program.
"I can say that there is no nuclear weapon program because we have been inspecting. If we do not inspect, if we are not there, then of course the doubts start to grow," Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told Rudaw's Namo Abdulla.
Grossi added: "So this is why we are answering in this way. We are explaining what we want to do. In fact, they [Iran] know, because they have been inspected for decades. We know our work very, very well. We know how we conducted it. They, and we know how we do it."
He went on to say that as the IAEA head, his "effort is to try to conduct a diplomatic effort to try to understand their concerns that they have been attacked. So they have concerns. And we want to address these concerns."
Despite the US and Israeli strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities in June, the IAEA estimates that about 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium - enough for several nuclear weapons if further refined - remains unaccounted for. Iran has not allowed IAEA inspectors to return to the sites since the June conflict.
Grossi's comments came over a week after Iran dismissed his calls for renewed negotiations over its nuclear program, following a joint letter by Tehran, Beijing, and Moscow to the UN Security Council that notes that UN sanctions on Iran have not been automatically reimposed and that the Security Council’s endorsement of the 2015 nuclear deal has now expired.
Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) - Iran's highest security authority - said that the statements by Grossi carry no weight.
“Grossi has done his job and his reports are no longer effective,” Larijani was quoted as saying by the state-run Iranian news agency (IRNA).
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He added that if the IAEA “has a request” regarding the resumption of negotiations, “it should submit it to the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council so it can be reviewed.”
Larijani’s remarks followed Grossi’s interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, in which the UN official expressed hope for “a diplomatic solution” to “the disputes surrounding Iran’s nuclear program.”
Grossi pointed to US President Donald Trump’s comments during his visit to Israel over two weeks ago, where he said, “It would be great if we made a peace deal with them [Tehran]. Wouldn’t it be nice? I think they want to.”
The IAEA chief remarked that “hearing such statements from President Trump is encouraging,” adding that they are indicative of the US President’s belief “in a diplomatic path.”
However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuffed Trump’s offer of renewed talks, while denying US claims of having destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities during the 12-day conflict in June, which saw Tel Aviv and Washington strike Tehran’s three key nuclear facilities: Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz.
Concerning satellite images, allegedly showing movements in a number of nuclear sites in Iran, the IAEA head said they were "normal movements."
"You know these are big industrial sites. There are trucks, people moving, but nothing that we would say, you know, that would allow us to think there is work involving the material, for example that is there, Centrifuges or things like that."