IAEA chief prepares for talks in Tehran on Iran’s nuclear activities

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), announced that he will soon visit Tehran to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme with the country’s authorities. 

"The more time passes, the more Tehran's centrifuges spin and uranium is enriched," Grossi warned, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

In the summer of 2024, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution urging Iran to resume cooperation with the agency. It called on Tehran to reconsider its decision to withdraw accreditation for several of the IAEA’s experts who had been inspecting Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities. The resolution also demanded an explanation from Iran about the discovery of man-made uranium particles in locations that were not officially declared as nuclear sites.

In late October, Kamal Kharazi, head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, stated that Iran could change its nuclear doctrine in response to an "existential threat" to the country. Kharazi, a foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said, "We now have the necessary capabilities to produce nuclear weapons and the only obstacle is the fatwa that prohibits it."

Kharazi also suggested that Iran could expand its missile programme, noting that the issue of missile range is particularly sensitive to Western countries, especially Europeans. "If they do not take into account our concerns, especially on the issue of the territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there is no reason for us to take into account their concerns," he added.

Khamenei’s fatwa, issued in 2010, bans the production of all weapons of mass destruction and was presented at the International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament. Former Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif has stated that Khamenei opposes nuclear weapons not only for religious reasons but also for strategic considerations. However, critics of the Iranian government argue that in the long run, the fatwa could be interpreted more as an advisory than a legally binding decree.

In response to rising tensions, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reassured the public in late October that Iran had no plans to develop nuclear weapons following Israeli attacks.

On the night of 26 October, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched airstrikes targeting military facilities in three Iranian provinces — Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam — after Iran’s missile attacks on Israel. The Israeli military identified the targets as surface-to-air missile systems, air defence facilities, and missile production sites used to launch attacks against Israeli territory. 

The IDF claimed that these airstrikes had significantly weakened Iran’s "strategic defence capability," although Tehran insisted that the damage was limited.

By Tamilla Hasanova