IAEA chief to travel to Iran for high-level nuke talks

Vienna [Austria], March 3: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, plans to travel to Tehran on Saturday for high-level talks, according to Western diplomats and the Iranian media.
In view of Iran's increasing enrichment of uranium, Grossi will negotiate more intensive IAEA inspections at nuclear facilities, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday. In addition, unresolved questions about alleged past nuclear projects are to be discussed.
A spokesman for the agency did not comment on Grossi's travel plans.
Earlier, Iran's nuclear chief played down a report from the IAEA that it had detected uranium particles almost suitable for nuclear weapons in Iran.
"A slight fluctuation was detected in one of the tests, but it couldn't even be seen with a microscope," Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said in Tehran on Wednesday.
According to Iranian media, Grossi is to hold talks with Eslami in Tehran on Saturday. Western diplomats, on the other hand, assume that the IAEA chief wants to meet Iran's President EbrahimRaisi.
In a letter from February 20, Iran informed the agency that "unintended fluctuations in enrichment levels may have occurred" in November.
According to the IAEA, the uranium had a purity level of 83.7% - just short of the 90% needed to build a nuclear weapon. Iran has been suspected of working on its own nuclear bomb for many years.
The traces were discovered back in January during an inspection of an Iranian facility at Fordo, where uranium is produced to a purity of 60%.
Grossi officially confirmed the find for the first time on Tuesday evening in Vienna.
"You can do it by mistake or you can do it intentionally," said a senior diplomat who closely follows Iran's nuclear programme.
He added that similar changes have also occurred in enrichment plants in other countries.
But in Iran's case, it was "quite a big jump" from 60% to almost 84%.
However, the analyses so far had shown that only a very small amount of 83.7%-enriched material had been produced, the diplomat said.
Grossi said in January that Iran already has enough enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons if the material were enriched to an even higher level.
However, Tehran still has a long and difficult road ahead of it before it can develop a nuclear weapon, Grossi said.
Source: Qatar Tribune