TOKYO, June 26 (HS/RIA Novosti) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) intends to begin inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities in the near future, Director General Rafael Grossi said on Friday.
We have not started this process of verification … We have barely initiated conversations with Iran so as to determine what are the modalities. And by modalities, we refer to frequency, places to be visited, and so on. The process, as you know, last weekend, we were in Burgenstock in Switzerland, where initial conversations have taken place. So I expect this work to pick up soon, Grossi said during a press conference in Tokyo.
The memorandum signed by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stipulates that Iran's nuclear program will once again be placed under IAEA monitoring and oversight, Grossi added.
The IAEA chief reiterated that attacks on nuclear sites are unacceptable. However, he dodged the question posed by a Japanese journalists about whether the agency considered US and Israeli attacks on Iranian facilities a violation of international law.
The IAEA also has no evidence indicating that Russia or China are contributing to nuclear weapons proliferation in North Korea, Grossi said, adding that countries complying with their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) do not violate them.
Well, we do not have any indication that the Russian Federation is helping proliferation in North Korea. We know, at the same time, that North Korea and the Russian Federation have subscribed a number of agreements in the context of the war and in military and even, I think, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, but we do not have any information or any indication that there is a proliferation, concern in that in that regard. And the same applies to China, Grossi said.
The IAEA is ready to send its specialists to North Korea if an agreement is reached, as it did in the early 2000s, he added.
Russia has previously stated that the issue of providing mutual military assistance is a sovereign matter for Russia and North Korea, and that their cooperation does not violate international law. Russia and China have also said that their cooperation is not directed against other countries and is not subject to external influence.
Iran and the United States held talks in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on Sunday, with the support of Qatari and Pakistani mediators. US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei later reported progress in the negotiations.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar