After Blocking U.N. Nuclear Watchdog, Iran Allows Inspectors to Return

Europe|After Blocking U.N. Nuclear Watchdog, Iran Allows Inspectors to Return

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has sent its first team of inspectors back to Iran since the country suspended cooperation with the agency last month, in what could be the first step to restoring independent oversight of Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian officials on Wednesday confirmed the visit from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or I.A.E.A. The day before, Iranian diplomats had met with their counterparts from Britain, France and Germany to explore a restart of talks over limiting Iran’s uranium enrichment.

The three European governments have warned that they will reinstate wide reaching sanctions on Iran by the end of August if they do not see a path toward renegotiating a landmark deal — signed in 2015 by Tehran, Washington and other world powers — that limits Iranian uranium enrichment. The agreement expires on Oct. 18.

Tensions between Iran, the I.A.E.A. and Western governments have been high since Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June. U.S. forces eventually joined the Israeli campaign, which battered Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel and the United States said the attacks aimed to neutralize the threat that Iran may produce a nuclear weapon.

In the weeks after the war, Iran suspended cooperation with the U.N. watchdog. Relations were already at a low point even before the conflict, after the international agency declared in June that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. The I.A.E.A. said that while it had no evidence that Iran was building a weapon, the country was stockpiling about 882 pounds of highly enriched uranium, beyond the grade needed to produce nuclear energy.