The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. However, for several reasons, in recent years the agency has been seen not as a technical organization rather as a political body with a structural dependence on the United States.
In his latest remarks at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that “We are engaging with Russia, China, and the European countries, but it’s clear to everyone that the U.S. is indispensable,” adding that “What we need is to find an understanding. This is going to be our mission in the next few weeks.”
He also said that Iran continues to produce highly enriched uranium.
Although the Agency repeatedly confirmed Iran's abidance by the provisions of the 2015 nuclear deal known as the JCPOA before Donald Trump's withdrawal from the deal and that the current situation is a natural result of the US withdrawal from the international agreement, the IAEA chief says that Iran needs to reach an understanding with the Trump administration about its nuclear activities in order to avoid another military conflict in the West Asia region.
Grossi's proposals for an agreement between Iran and the Donald Trump administration comes at a time when one can witness a change in tune of the IAEA director general after Trump came to power, in a way that Grossi is trying to withdraw the Agency from playing a role in the Iranian nuclear issue and pitting Iran and the US against each other.
These claims and allegations against Iran come at a time when Tehran, despite the US government’s unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May 2018, lived up to its obligations under the agreement. Faced with the toughened sanctions and the Europeans failure to abide by their shares of commitments after a year and a half passed since the illegal US pullout, Tehran took steps away from some of its commitments under the deal in a bid to establish a mechanism to reduce the impact of sanctions and normalize its trade relations. Iran’s actions were in accordance with the JCPOA provisions in reaction to the other participants’ refusal to abide by their commitments.
This action by Iran was a legitimate response to the parties’ breach of their commitments under Article 36 of the JCPOA and happened after informing the Agency. However, Iranian officials have announced that they will reverse course and would resume full abidance by the JCPOA in case all other parties return to their commitments.
Grossi's trip to Iran
The IAEA chief traveled to Iran in the middle of November, where he met with high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi. He also toured key Iranian nuclear sites.
He held talks on technical and safeguards issues with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)'s technical and expert team headed by the AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami on all aspects of the Joint Statement agreed with Iran in March 2023. Grossi visited the two important enrichment sites of Natanz and Fordow.
In his opening speech at the previous quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors, the IAEA Director General also said about the issue of uranium enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium in Iran that, “Since my previous report, Iran's stockpiles of 20% enriched uranium and 60% enriched uranium-235 have increased.”
He also said that during high-level meetings between the IAEA and Iran on November 14, 2024 in Tehran, the possibility of non-expansion of 60 percent enriched uranium-235 stocks was discussed, including the Agency's necessary technical verification measures to confirm that. On 16 November 2024, the Agency's verification showed that Iran had begun implementing preliminary measures at the Fordow enrichment facility aimed at halting the increase in its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium-235.It is expected that engagement between the Agency and Iran in this regard will continue.
Iran’s Commitments to the JCPOA confirmed in 16 consecutive IAEA reports
After signing the JCPOA in 2015 with the aim of lifting sanctions, Iran fully lived up to its commitments as a responsible country; a matter that was confirmed in 16 IAEA reports. However, after Donald Trump came to power and his unilateral decision to withdraw from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018 (May 8, 2018), the sanctions that had been lifted under the agreement were re-imposed.
With Joe Biden taking office in January 2021, his administration condemned Trump’s policy of unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA but in practice continued Maximum Pressure Campaign against Iran that the previous Trump administration had begun. Despite claims to return to diplomacy, the White House has shown no will to return to the JCPOA and compensate for Trump’s failed policies.
Negotiations to revive the JCPOA were held in Vienna for eight rounds, and representatives of the P 4+1, the European Union, and Iran participated in those talks. An American delegation was also indirectly present in the talks, but due to contradictory behavior, delay in decision-making, and Washington's excessive demands, no agreement was finally reached.
The Vienna talks in the Joe Biden administration to revive this agreement did not conclude, but Iran has emphasized that it would be ready to finalize an agreement to lift sanctions if the parties show political will.
The remarks by the IAEA chief should be considered a tacit admission on his part; all of its reports and actions are political (not technical), and this specialized institution, for example, is in fact a tool in the hands of the United States to justify US pressures to the public opinion under false pretenses and by fabricating a crisis.
Grossi is part of a psychological warfare
In an interview with Mehr about Rafael Grossi's recent anti-Iran remarks, international relations expert Foad Izadi said that, “Trump has come, but the main issue is not the talks. Grossi is completely in harmony with the Zionist regime and coordinates his words and actions with them, so there have been cases where before traveling to Iran, he would personally discuss the situation with the Zionist regime officials during his trip to the occupied territories and adopt the necessary stances and then come to Iran; as a result, it must be said that the words he says are not his own, but rather words that he has to say and in a way he wants to throw the ball in Iran's court; while the ball is in the court of the Western parties, the Americans have withdrawn from the JCPOA and the Europeans have practically done the same.”
Stating that a US official had said in a meeting that if financial resources were to reach Iran, it would use them for regional and missile policies, he emphasized, "I would conclude that the Israelis and Americans after realizing that the issue of talks in our country has created a dichotomy (division), want to pour gasoline on the fire created by the dichotomy of talks or no talks. Of course, there should not be an atmosphere of bipolarization in the society, but unfortunately, this situation has become a reality in the country, so these political statements by the head of a UN technical agency are part of a psychological warfare against Iran."
All in all, the Islamic Republic of Iran is using every opportunity in the field of diplomacy to pursue its demands, and is also going for talks on the removal of sanctions with three European countries (the UK, France, and Germany) and the European Union. So far, three rounds of talks have been held, and the parties are trying to provide the necessary condition to reduce the tensions and continue the diplomatic process.
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