Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that upcoming talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency will be “technical” and “complicated,” ahead of the watchdog’s first visit since Tehran severed ties with it last month.
Relations between the two soured after Israel launched a 12-day air war backed by the U.S. in June, which saw key Iranian nuclear facilities bombed. The IAEA board said on June 12 that Iran had breached its non-proliferation obligations, a day before Israel’s airstrikes over Iran that sparked the war.
Later on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency that Massimo Aparo, the IAEA’s deputy director general and head of safeguards, had left Iran. Aparo met with an Iranian delegation, which included officials from the foreign ministry and the atomic energy organization, to discuss "the method of interaction between the agency and Iran.”
Gharibabadi said they decided to continue consultations in the future, without providing further details.
The IAEA did not immediately issue a statement about the visit by the agency's deputy head, which will not include any planned access to Iranian nuclear sites.
