Iran says might enable U.S. inspectors from nuclear watchdog if deal reached

Head of Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Eslami. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran on Wednesday (May 28, 2025) mentioned it could take into account permitting U.S. inspectors with the United Nations nuclear watchdog to examine its amenities if a deal is reached with the United States.

Iran has lengthy been accused by Western powers of looking for to develop nuclear weapons — a declare Tehran has persistently denied, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for peaceable, civilian functions.

Tehran and Washington have in current weeks held 5 rounds of talks centered on the problem — their highest-level contact for the reason that U.S. in 2018 withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal throughout Donald Trump’s first time period.

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“Countries that had been hostile to us and behaved unprincipledly through the years — now we have all the time tried to not settle for inspectors from these international locations,” Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami, instructed reporters, referring to employees from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Tehran “will rethink accepting American inspectors by the company” if “an settlement is reached, and Iran’s calls for are taken into consideration”, he added.

Since returning to workplace in January, Trump has reinstated his “most strain” coverage on Tehran, together with by imposing new sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei mentioned Wednesday (May 28) that “consultations are ongoing relating to the time and site of the following spherical of talks, and as soon as finalised, they are going to be introduced by Oman”.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, at the moment on an official go to to Oman, thanked the Gulf state for its mediation efforts between the longtime adversaries, which have had no formal diplomatic ties since 1979.

Iranian Foreign Minister and high negotiator Abbas Araghchi, who’s accompanying Pezeshkian in Oman, mentioned that “the date for the brand new spherical of negotiations will most likely be clarified inside the subsequent few days”.

Non-negotiable

While welcoming the negotiations, Iranian officers have repeatedly declared uranium enrichment “non-negotiable”. U.S. officers, together with Washington’s consultant within the talks, Steve Witkoff, have additionally publicly recognized it as a pink line.

Mr. Eslami additionally mentioned that the problem of enrichment “has not been raised in any respect” and “the enrichment share shouldn’t be raised politically”.

“The enrichment share depends upon the kind of use. When extremely enriched uranium is produced, it doesn’t essentially imply navy use,” he instructed reporters.

Mr. Baqaei, in the meantime, mentioned: “The continuation of enrichment in Iran is an inseparable a part of the nation’s nuclear trade and a elementary precept for the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Any proposal or initiative that contradicts this precept or undermines this proper is unacceptable.”

Iran at the moment enriches uranium as much as 60% — the very best degree of any non-nuclear weapons state. That charge continues to be under the 90 % threshold required for a nuclear weapon, however far above the three.67 % restrict set underneath the 2015 deal.

The European events to the 2015 nuclear accord — France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — are weighing whether or not to set off the settlement’s “snapback” mechanism, which might reinstate UN sanctions on Iran for non-compliance.

Tehran has repeatedly warned towards activating the measure.