Iran confirms visit by senior IAEA official within 10 days

• ‘The issue of holding the US accountable and demanding compensation for committing a military attack against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities will be one of the main items on the agenda,’ Baqaei says

ISTANBUL

A senior official from the UN nuclear watchdog will visit Iran within 10 days, the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday.

“The date for the visit of the senior IAEA official to Tehran has been set, and the trip will take place within the next 10 days,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in comments carried by the state news agency IRNA.

Last month, Iran said that it had agreed to a visit by a technical team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the capital, Tehran, without inspecting nuclear sites.

Iran said the framework of its cooperation with the UN nuclear agency will be discussed during the visit, following recent Israeli and US attacks on the country.

“Iran has consistently emphasized that the agency and its officials must act solely based on their technical and professional responsibilities within this international body and must avoid being influenced by political pressure,” Baqaei said.

On the nuclear talks with US, Baqaei said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stressed that “any future interaction or negotiation — if the conditions for it are met — will certainly be different from the situation before June 12.”

“The circumstances have changed drastically, and in any potential negotiations or discussions, without a doubt, the issue of holding the US accountable and demanding compensation for committing a military attack against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities will be one of the main items on the agenda,” he added.

Negotiations between Iran and the US were being held through Omani mediators until Israel’s surprise attack on Iran on June 13, which triggered a 12-day war, targeting military, nuclear, and civilian sites as well as senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Tehran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes, while the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites.

The conflict came to a halt under a US-sponsored ceasefire that took effect on June 24.