INTERNATIONAL nuclear inspectors have returned to Iran, Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told broadcasters on Wednesday.
The experts from IAEA were set to resume their work, although not all details between the IAEA and the Islamic Republic have been clarified yet, Grossi said.
The inspectors had left the country following Israeli and U.S. attacks in June on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The government in Tehran allowed the IAEA team back into the country shortly before a deadline set by European states was about to expire.
Germany, France and Britain had threatened to reintroduce previous UN sanctions if Iran was unwilling by the end of August to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme diplomatically.
Grossi cautiously welcomed the development in remarks to the BBC broadcaster. “We are taking the initial steps. These are constructive steps,” he said.
The IAEA team has initially been dispatched to the Iranian nuclear power plant Bushehr.
It was not a target of Israeli attacks, rather than to the damaged uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordo, according to information obtained by dpa.
The current diplomatic dispute and the June attacks stem from long-running fears that Iran is producing material for nuclear bombs in Natanz and Fordo, an allegation that Tehran vehemently rejects.
On Tuesday, nuclear talks in Geneva between government representatives from Tehran, Berlin, London and Paris ended without a breakthrough.
However, the three European states known as the E3 were still striving for a diplomatic solution and were open to further talks, diplomats said. (dpa/NAN)
