The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, considered on Monday that cooperation with Iran is very "slow", calling on Tehran to speed up the pace of reinstalling cameras at nuclear sites.

Upon his return from a visit to the Islamic Republic in March, Grossi welcomed Tehran's pledge to re-install the monitoring devices that were dismantled in June 2022 in the context of deteriorating relations with Western powers.

Three months later, Grossi considered, at the opening of a meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency at the headquarters of the UN body in the Austrian capital, Vienna, that "progress is much less than expected."
And he stressed in a press conference he held later that "this matter is moving very slowly."

"In fact, we have installed cameras and surveillance systems in several locations, but much more than that should be done," especially since Iran continues its nuclear escalation despite its denial of seeking to acquire an atomic bomb, he added, "We must move faster."

Grossi stressed that what has been achieved is only "a small part of what we were looking forward to."
"Even if all the cameras are reinstalled, Iran will have to provide all kinds of information to fill in the gaps and 'assemble' all the pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture," he said.

When asked about criticism leveled by Israel, Iran's archenemy, after the agency's decision to put aside some disputes, even temporarily, according to two reports submitted to member states, Grossi said, "We never lower our standards...we have been rigorous, technically impartial and fair, But firm."

Regarding the undisclosed Marivan site, located near the Abadh region in southern Iran, Grossi said he had received "reasonable explanations from Iran" that attributed the presence of nuclear material to "mining activities carried out during the Soviet era."

Given the inability to "prove or deny" this information, it is now considered that this file, which has been pending for years, "has been settled at this stage."

But the agency adheres to its previous assessment, which it considers that "explosive tests were conducted in the past."

This file is one of the contentious issues that hindered the Vienna negotiations last year aimed at reviving the historic agreement concluded in 2015 between Tehran and the major powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States), officially known as the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action".

This agreement limits Iran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
These negotiations have been suspended since the summer of 2022, and there are no positive indications of their resumption, although Tehran confirms support for this resumption.