Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Grossi said that the IAEA needs to go to Zaporizhzhia just like it did to Chernobyl to ascertain the facts about what is actually happening there. They will need to carry out inspections and repairs and “to prevent a nuclear accident from happening.” The head of the IAEA said that his team needs protection to get to the plant and this will require the cooperation of Russia and Ukraine.
      Each side wants this international mission to go to different sites. This is understandable in the light of territorial integrity and political considerations. However, there is something more urgent in the call to get the IAEA team Zaporizhzhia. Grossi said, “The IAEA, by its presence, will be a deterrent to any act of violence against this nuclear power plant. So I’m pleading as an international civil servant, as the head of an international organization, I’m pleading to both sides to let this mission proceed.”
     Grossi was in New York to deliver a keynote speech at the Monday opening of the high-level meeting to review the landmark fifty-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. During the interview, Grossi also spoke about efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major power that the Trump administration which was abandoned in 2018. The Biden administration has been working to renew that deal.
     Grossi commented that there is “an ongoing effort to try to go for yet another meeting or round to explore possibilities to come to an agreement.” Such a meeting could happen soon, according to Grossi.
     Anthony Blinken is the U.S. Secretary of State. He told the NPT review conference last Monday that Iran has either been unwilling or unable to agree to a deal to return to the 2015 agreement that was aimed at reining its nuclear program. Grossi said “there are important differences among the negotiating parties” and important verification issues related to past activities that Iran must address. He added that securing such a deal is not impossible but it is very complex.
      If the Iranian nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not extended, Grossi said that some IAEA inspections in Iran will continue. However, the JCPOA provided for additional transparency and inspection “which I deem as extremely important, very necessary, because of the breadth and depth of the nuclear program in Iran,” he said. Grossi emphasized that cooperating with the IAEA, answering its questions, allowing its inspectors to go wherever they need to be, is absolutely critical for Iran to build trust and confidence. “Promises and good words will not do.”
     On another issue, Grossi mentioned that last September’s deal in which the United States and Britain will provide Australia with nuclear reactors to power its submarines must include an agreement with the IAEA to ensure that the amount of nuclear material in the vessel when it leaves port is there when it returns. He said that Australia has not yet decided what type of vessel it will be getting so while that have been preparatory conversations, substantiative talks cannot begin.
      Gross said that because military vessels are being discussed, “there are lots of confidential and protection of information measures that need to be embedded into any such agreement, so it’s very complex technologically.”