Iranian, Egyptian and U.N. leaders met in Cairo on Monday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program after a report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said that Iran is further increasing its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the agency compiled the report, because Iranian’s uranium enrichment was an ongoing concern for the IAEA’s board of governors.
“We hope that by providing the clarification we will be providing an incentive for clarity, an incentive for a peaceful solution and a diplomatic solution,” Grossi said in Cairo.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Grossi as well as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
IAEA expresses ‘serious concern’
The confidential IAEA report, which was seen by The Associated Press on Saturday, raised a stern warning, saying Iran is now “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material,” something the agency said was of “serious concern.”
Iranian leadership believes the IAEA report is politically motivated by Grossi’s hopes to become the next U.N. secretary-general.
Grossi is attempting to attract votes of several members of the U.N. Security Council with the report, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, told the official IRNA news agency late Sunday.
“He basically has chosen a political attitude, and this political attitude has led the environment to be more political rather that technical,” Eslami said.
The IAEA report said that Iran, as of May 17, had amassed 408.6 kilograms (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%. That is an increase of almost 50% since the IAEA’s last report in February. The 60% enriched material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi rejected many of the report’s findings. Gharibabadi noted on Sunday that out of the IAEA’s 682 inspections of 32 states, 493 were carried out in Iran alone.
“So long as a country’s nuclear activities are under the IAEA’s monitoring, there is no cause for concern,” he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is neither pursuing nuclear weapons nor does it possess any undeclared nuclear materials or activities.”
Questions about U.S. transparency
Iran is concerned that the U.S. hasn’t provided enough transparency about what Iran can gain from the talks, Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Monday.
“It must be crystal clear to us that how the unfair sanctions against the Iranian nation will be removed,” Baghaei said.
The U.S.-Iran talks are an attempt to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, which have strained relations for almost 50 years.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who is mediating in the U.S.-Iran talks, visited Tehran on Saturday to present the Washington’s latest proposal for ongoing discussions.
Araghchi said on Monday in Cairo that Iran will reply to the U.S. approach soon, but there will be no agreement unless Iran’s right to enrichment is respected.
Iran doesn’t plan on leaving the negotiating table, but if the U.S. wants to pressure Iran to give up its entire nuclear program, rather than work with Iran’s assurances of a peaceful program, the negotiations won’t make any progress, he said.
The fifth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran concluded in Rome last week with “some but not conclusive progress,” al-Busaidi said at the time.
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Melanie Lidman reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
