VIENNA: The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that it would 鈥渘ever abandon鈥� its attempts to get Iran to clarify the previous presence of nuclear material at several undeclared sites there.
Iran has said the closure of the probe is necessary in order to clinch a deal to revive the 2015 deal with world powers on its nuclear program.
However, on Wednesday International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi insisted that it would 鈥渘ever abandon a process... because of a political reason.鈥�
鈥淭his is not how the IAEA works,鈥� he told reporters at a press conference.
The IAEA has been pressing Tehran for several years for explanations regarding indications that nuclear material was previously present at four different locations in Iran.
While much of the activity concerned is thought to date back to the early 2000s, sources say that one of the sites, in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, may have been used for storing uranium as late as the end of 2018.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that unless this issue is closed, 鈥渨e can鈥檛 think of the possibility of an agreement about the return of the US鈥� to the Iran nuclear deal.
Diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia restarted talks in late November to revive the 2015 accord, also known as the JCPOA.
The US has been taking part indirectly.
The accord began disintegrating when former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.
This week is widely being seen as critical for the success or failure of the talks, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying Wednesday that a decision 鈥渃annot be postponed any longer.鈥�
When asked by reporters what it would take for him to close the issue of the sites, Grossi replied simply: 鈥淚ran to cooperate with me鈥� in the form of a 鈥渇ull process to clarify鈥� outstanding questions.
He didn鈥檛 rule out a possible visit to Tehran soon in order to discuss the issue.
Russia鈥檚 ambassador to the UN in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said the negotiations were 鈥渙ne minute from the finish line鈥� and that the war in Ukraine had not affected Russia鈥檚 co-operation with other participants.
鈥淭hey need us very much,鈥� Ulyanov said, adding: 鈥淧ragmatically they don鈥檛 want to spoil relations鈥� on an issue of common interest.