IAEA Boss Upbeat About Reviving Nuclear Deal After Tehran Trip

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Saturday he felt positive that the talks he was having with the Iranian nuclear chief in Tehran would help revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iranian nuclear deal.

Grossi arrived in Iran on Friday to discuss future cooperation with Mohammad Eslami, who heads Iran's Atomic Energy Organization. The talks come amid a stalemate in the IAEA efforts to rescue the landmark nuclear deal.

"Negotiations on the possible revival of the JCPOA are ongoing. It is not part of what we are discussing now but by having a constructive discussion like we are having now and by having good agreements like I am sure we are going to have, we are going to be paving the way for important agreements. This is my hope," the IAEA chief told a news conference alongside Eslami.

Grossi rejected as "absurd" the claims that the Austria-based nuclear watchdog was acting on US or Israeli orders.

"The IAEA has not been and will never be a political tool of anybody. I am under no country's instructions, and we act in a way that is very transparent," he told reporters.

The United States quit the six-way nuclear pact with Iran in 2018, prompting Tehran to go back on some of its commitments under the JCPOA. Grossi's two-day visit to Iran comes just days before the IAEA Board of Governors meets on Monday to discuss nuclear nonproliferation safeguards in place for Iran.