IAEA says nuclear inspectors have left Iran

VIENNA/MOSCOW: UN nuclear watchdog inspectors left Iran on Friday, according to the agency, which called for the resumption of its “indispensable monitoring” after the Islamic republic officially suspended its cooperation.

The suspension came after last month’s 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, which saw unprecedented Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and escalated tensions between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the IAEA said in a post on X.

“IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible,” it added.

Iran officially suspended its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday.

On June 25, a day after a ceasefire took hold, Iranian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to suspend the cooperation with the IAEA.

The law aims to “ensure full support for the inherent rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran” under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with a particular focus on uranium enrichment, according to Iranian media.

Washington, which has been pressing Tehran to resume the negotiations that were interrupted by Israel’s resort to military action on June 13, has hit out at the Iranian decision, calling it “unacceptable”.

HE CAN MEET

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that Iran wants to speak to the US, and that he would meet with representatives of the country “if necessary”.

“Iran does want to speak, and I think they’d like to speak to me, and it’s time that they do,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews while on his way to a rally in Iowa.

Read more: US plans nuclear talks with Iran in Oslo next week, Axios reports

“We’re not looking to hurt them. We’re looking to let them be a country again.”

DIPLOMACY IS THE ROUTE

On the other hand, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told a press conference in Moscow on Friday that here is a need to return to diplomatic negotiations when it comes to Iran’s nuclear programme and Tehran also needs to fully cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog.

ABRAHAM ACCORDS

Meanwhile, the Saudi top diplomat also replied to question about the possible expansion of Abraham Accords – the signature project of US President Donald Trump, which he had launched during his first term.

He said the kingdom’s current priority is reaching a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, when asked about the possibility of normalising ties with Israel.

“What we are seeing is the Israelis are crushing Gaza, the civilian population of Gaza,” Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said. “This is completely unnecessary, completely unacceptable and has to stop.”

Earlier, Trump said he had spoken to Saudi Arabia about expanding the Abraham Accords.

Trump made the comments when asked about US media reporting late on Thursday that he had met Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman at the White House.

“It’s one of the things we talked about,” Trump said. “I think a lot of people are going to be joining the Abraham Accords,” he added, citing the predicted expansion to the damage faced by Iran from recent US and Israeli strikes.