No deadline for Iran's answers but talks cannot go on forever: UN nuclear chief

BERLIN

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday said there is no need to set a deadline for Iran to answer questions about its nuclear program, but made clear that talks cannot go on forever.

“I don’t like deadlines. Deadlines have a connotation, a repressive connotation, that I don’t like. I think we have to work with … mutual respect,” Rafael Grossi said at a press conference in Vienna.

“So I wouldn’t talk about deadlines, but at the same time we cannot continue with this forever.”

He reiterated the need for Tehran’s “full cooperation” with the IAEA to resolve issues blocking the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The agreement curtailed Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from Western economic sanctions, but former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from it in 2018.

“It is obvious that for the international community … if you add absence of cooperation with a nuclear program that is growing and growing and growing, then the lack of confidence is absolute,” he said.

“We hope that we can finally sit down … (and) reconstruct a dialogue with Iran as soon as possible. My effort is aimed at making Iran cooperate with us, understanding that they have an obligation to do that.”

Grossi’s comments came a day after he pressed Iran to answer questions over its nuclear program, particularly about “traces of uranium that were found in places where they should not have been.”

Last week, he said Tehran did not offer anything new during a recent meeting in Vienna, but stressed that talks would continue in the coming weeks.