IAEA’s Grossi says outstanding issues with Iran will not be wished away

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Outstanding issues between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog will not be wished away, agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday, while Tehran insists on the closure of the agency’s probes for revival of a 2015 nuclear pact.

“These issues are not going to be wished away,” Grossi told reporters at the United Nations, adding that he hoped to meet with Iranians in a few days.

“The IAEA has limited access to Iran’s nuclear facilities. … We are ready to re-engage with Iran”.

After months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, the nuclear deal appeared near revival in March. But negotiations broke down over several issues, including Tehran’s insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) close its probes into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites before the nuclear pact is revived.

Iran’s demand risks hurting the chances of saving the agreement because Washington and its European allies have rejected linking it to the agency’s investigation.

The nuclear deal unraveled after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. In response, Iran violated the pact’s nuclear limits and expanded the country’s nuclear programme.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi and John Irish; editing by Jonathan Oatis)