International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi plans to visit Iran to attend a nuclear conference May 6-8 and meet with Iranian officials. Mehr the news agency reported on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
“Grossi will meet with Iranian officials in Tehran before attending the International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology in Isfahan,” the agency said.
In February, the IAEA chief said he was planning a visit to Tehran to address the “gap” in relations between the agency and the Islamic Republic.
That same month, Grossi said that while Iran’s rate of uranium enrichment has slowed somewhat since late last year, Iran is still enriching at an increased rate – about 7 kg of uranium per month to 60 percent purity.
Enrichment to 60 percent brings the uranium closer to weapons grade and is not necessary for commercial use in nuclear energy production. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons, but no other state has enriched itself to such a level without producing them.
Under a defunct 2015 deal with world powers, Iran can only enrich uranium to 3.67 percent. After then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, Iran moved well beyond the deal’s nuclear limits.
The IAEA said the 2015 nuclear deal had “all but fallen apart.”
READ: Iran votes to increase uranium enrichment
