The head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, will travel to Iran on Saturday in order to meet officials there, the IAEA said Thursday.
“Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi will travel to Tehran for meetings with senior Iranian officials on Saturday,” an IAEA spokesman said in a statement, adding that Grossi would hold a press conference on his return to Vienna on Saturday evening.
The announcement comes a day after Grossi vowed that the IAEA would “never abandon” its attempts to get Iran to clarify the previous presence of nuclear material at several undeclared sites there.
Iran has stated that the probe’s conclusion is required in order to reach an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear deal with international powers.
The Vienna talks on the accord are largely regarded as being at a critical juncture, with the next few days determining their success or failure.
In late November, diplomats from the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Iran, and Russia resumed discussions to resurrect the 2015 agreement, commonly known as the JCPOA or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
