“Our negotiations have been inconclusive, meaning that we could not finish. I’m not giving up on trying to find some understanding, but in terms of what we were discussing yesterday, we could not conclude an agreement.”
Rafael Mariano Grossi’s words sharply contrasted with the optimistic tone his Iranian hosts offered the day before. They signal the Islamic Republic’s harder line as renewed talks over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers resume next week.
They also represent a stark alarm for nuclear nonproliferation experts after Grossi’s trip to Tehran produced no breakthrough to restore its ability to fully monitor its program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors remain unable to access surveillance footage and face greater challenges in trying to monitor Tehran’s rapidly growing uranium stockpile,
“Our negotiations have been inconclusive, meaning that we could not finish,” Grossi told reporters in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, after addressing the agency’s board of governors. “I’m not giving up on trying to find some understanding, but in terms of what we were discussing yesterday, we could not conclude an agreement.”
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