The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi landed in Iran on Wednesday to discuss the nation's nuclear activities, AFP reported.
Grossi announced earlier this week he would visit Iran and meet with Iranian officials to address various aspects of the joint statement agreed upon in March 2023, which outlines a framework for cooperation between the agency and Iran.
The agreement aims to enhance inspections of Iran's advancing nuclear program and resolve questions about potential undeclared nuclear activities at certain sites. Under the statement, Iran pledged to allow the IAEA to "implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities."
The IAEA has long sought answers from Iran regarding the origin and current location of man-made uranium particles found at two undeclared sites, Varamin and Turquzabad, as part of the IAEA's years-long investigation.
In addition, the IAEA has published several reports which have found that Iran has significantly expanded its stockpile of uranium enriched to levels close to weapons-grade, defying international demands.
Iran has taken many steps since 2018 to scale back its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers, after US President-elect Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal during his first term in office.
In addition to the advancement of its uranium enrichment, Iran has also banned IAEA inspectors from its nuclear facilities.
In his first term, Trump implemented what was known as a "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran. Commenting on this on Wednesday, Iran's government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani emphasized: "The one who left the agreement was not Iran, it was America.. Mr. Trump once tried the path of maximum pressure and saw that this path did not work."
Grossi has warned that Tehran has enough highly enriched uranium to produce "several" nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He has also noted the agency cannot guarantee that Iran hasn't diverted centrifuges for secret enrichment activities.
Grossi has previously said he sensed a greater willingness by Iranian officials to engage with the agency in a more meaningful way, but later expressed doubts that Iran would be willing to reinstate the IAEA inspectors who have specialized knowledge of Iran’s uranium enrichment operations.