UN chief meet with head of IAEA Mohammad Eslami

• The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog met with Mohammad Eslami.
• The meeting comes as efforts to revive the country’s nuclear deal stall.
• Efforts to salvage the agreement have failed since then-president Donald Trump withdrew the U.S.

Monday, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced that he had met with the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, Mohammad Eslami, as efforts to revive the country’s nuclear deal stall.

In exchange for severe restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities, a tattered 2015 agreement offered a reduction in international sanctions. Efforts to salvage the agreement have failed since then-president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018.

The United States reinstated severe sanctions, prompting Tehran to retreat from its nuclear commitments, significantly increase its stockpile of enriched uranium, and turn off monitoring cameras operated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

After months of conflict, however, the two sides met in Vienna.

“Dialogue has restarted with Iran on clarification of outstanding safeguards issues,” Rafael Grossi tweeted Monday.

On the sidelines of the IAEA’s annual conference, he met with Eslami, vice president, and posted a photo of the two men shaking hands.

The UN watchdog has been pressuring Iran to answer questions about the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites. This key sticking point led to the passage of a resolution criticizing Iran at a meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors in June.

Eslami stated last week on state television that he would meet with Grossi and hoped to “put an end… to the false accusations about certain (nuclear) sites stemming from political pressure and psychological operations exerted against Iran.”

Iran has repeatedly stated that it desires the IAEA to abandon its interest in the three sites, a stance that the nuclear watchdog deems unconvincing.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last Wednesday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi reaffirmed his nation’s long-held stance that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon and demanded assurances from the United States that it would adhere to any revived nuclear deal.