IAEA chief aims to pursue talks with Iran rather than make threats

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, says he wants to negotiate without making any threats in the nuclear dispute with Iran.

Grossi would like to meet Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian before the US presidential election at the beginning of November, the IAEA Director General said during a press conference in Vienna on Monday.

Tehran recently announced that Pezeshkian's was willing to meet the IAEA chief in Iran. Grossi has been trying for months to restart talks in order to persuade the Islamic Republic to cooperate with IAEA inspectors. Among other things, this involves unresolved questions about secret nuclear activities in the past.

In June, the IAEA Board of Governors threatened to commission Grossi to produce a comprehensive report on unresolved issues relating to Iran's nuclear programme if Iran did not cooperate.

"My approach is to try to solve issues now and not to have a perspective of punitive action at some point in the future," Grossi said on Thursday. He said he was "taking note" of the resolution, but was not currently planning such a report.

Better cooperation between the IAEA and Iran could pave the way for the resumption of international negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, Grossi said.

During the recent Iranian presidential election campaign, Pezeshkian stated that he wanted to resume nuclear negotiations with the West to lift the international sanctions against his country.

In 2018, then US President Donald Trump withdrew from an agreement that included severe restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions relief.

In return, Tehran began to produce almost weapons-grade uranium. Iran insists, however, that it is not seeking nuclear weapons.