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Europe|Iran and U.N. Watchdog Meet to Discuss Resuming Nuclear Inspections
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/world/europe/iran-iaea-nuclear-inspections.html
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Iran has not allowed inspections since its nuclear sites were bombed by Israel and the United States in June, but it hopes to stave off Western economic sanctions.
Sept. 9, 2025, 11:47 a.m. ET
Iran’s foreign minister met with the leader of the United Nations nuclear watchdog group in Cairo on Tuesday, as the agency aims to reach an agreement on resuming international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran suspended its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the wake of Israel and Iran’s 12-day war in June, when Israel and the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities, where they said scientists were working toward developing atomic weapons. But in recent weeks, Iran and the agency began to talk again, with an I.A.E.A. official visiting Tehran in late August.
The lack of international inspections has unnerved regional security experts, who have been warning that Iran might seek to secretly build atomic bombs. It is not clear how badly Iran’s nuclear program was damaged by the U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Allowing access to I.A.E.A. inspectors could help Iran avert or postpone economic sanctions announced by Germany, Britain and France, penalties that could deal a heavy blow to a country whose economy is already foundering.
Speaking to the I.A.E.A. board of governors on Monday, the agency’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said he hoped an agreement would soon be reached that would “facilitate the resumption of our indispensable work with Iran.”
“There is still time, not much, but always enough when there is good faith and a clear sense of responsibility,” he said. He then traveled to Cairo to meet with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on Tuesday.
