New IAEA Chief Confirms Meeting With Iranian Officials Last Week, Sees It Positive

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2019) The new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi confirmed to Sputnik that he had met with the Iranian delegation and that he considered these talks very positive.

"That meeting took place in Vienna last week. I think it was very positive, it allowed us for a very first chance of starting working together," IAEA chief said.

Grossi believes that his appointment implies a need to start developing a direct personal contact with Iran's top officials, and that he saw the meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as a good first step.

"I think it was a very good meeting in that we committed � mutually, I believe � to work constructively and positively," he said.

During the meeting, the parties discussed Grossi's upcoming trip to Iran, he said.

"It comes natural that at some point I should come and visit, I should come and see Tehran and the facilities there, the people there. We haven't decided on a date, but we said we would be talking about it very soon," IEAE chief said.

The IAEA does not assess Araghchi's statements about Iran's readiness to take another step away from its commitments under the nuclear deal, Grossi noted.

"My take on this is that political statements are not something I should be weighing in. My role, the role of the agency in all of this is a role of inspector. We try to be impartial, we need to be extremely accurate so our expressions of Iran come by way of reports on what is going on in terms of the things we verify and we monitor. All the rest is for countries, they can express their national priorities and policies. We are there to inspect in a firm and fair way," he explained.

On December 2, IAEA General Conference at a special session approved the appointment of Argentina's Grossi to the post of the agency's news chief. He began his duties the next day. Grossi, the first Latin American to head the IAEA, has become the agency's sixth head since it was founded in 1957. The head of the IAEA is appointed for four years.