IAEA chief says agency ‘ready’ to verify Iran’s nuclear activities, urges diplomatic agreement

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said Friday that the agency has completed most of the technical preparations needed to verify Iran’s nuclear activities, stressing that a lasting and stable solution to tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program requires a diplomatic agreement. Speaking to the UN General Assembly in New York, Grossi said the IAEA was ready to carry out the technical verification work necessary to support negotiations between Iran and the US. “Most of the technical work, which is required to ensure an adequate verification of the activities in Iran has been done, so we are ready. The IAEA is ready,” Grossi said. He expressed hope that negotiations between Tehran and Washington would make progress with the support of regional and international partners, including Pakistan, Qatar, Oman and Egypt. Grossi said the IAEA had been working with these countries and others to help bring the situation back to a framework in which nuclear activities could be adequately verified. “There will not be, dear friends, there will not be a lasting, stable solution without a diplomatic agreement,” he told the General Assembly. Grossi emphasized that independent verification by the UN nuclear watchdog would be essential to any diplomatic arrangement involving Iran’s nuclear program. “For a diplomatic agreement to happen, we need the verification. We need the solid support of the work of the IAEA. We are ready, and we are certain that they want the same thing,” he said.