UN nuclear watchdog says we-I-Iran talks are at an important stage

(Bloomberg) -The United Nations Nuclear Guard’s head said that talks between Iran and the US are at an ‘important stage’ and warn that they have a limited time to solve their years of view. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said: “There is a possibility of a good result, but nothing is guaranteed,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said during a visit to Tehran and Bloomberg. “We multiply our efforts to facilitate this process.” Grossi’s visit comes days after the US and Iran held their first talks aimed at reaching an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program. The interests for global security and the oil market are large. US President Donald Trump has threatened military action against the Islamic Republic if an agreement is not reached in the coming weeks. Saudi Arabia’s defense minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman on Thursday made a rare high-profile visit to Iran and met the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the state-run news agency Islamic Republic reported. Prince Khalid sent a message from Saudi Kroon Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to Khamenei, Irna said, without giving details about its content. He is the Saudi royalty at the highest level that Iran visits in years and his journey indicates that Arab states are eager to avoid a new conflict in the region. The Iaea’s Grossi said it was in contact with the US’s leading envoy of the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to see how the watchdog can serve as a bridge between Iran and the US and helps to achieve a positive outcome, “according to the IRNA. While the US and Iran will meet in Rome on Saturday for a second round of talks, they have already hit an obstacle to the Trump administration’s position on Tehran’s ability to enrich uranium. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week that the US had sent conflicting messages, and that this need makes it clear when they meet again this weekend. Witkoff said on Tuesday that Iran should all eliminate its uranium enrichment program, rather than limiting it. He traced back on earlier remarks that Iran could still enrich to a low level for civil practices. Iran said the ability to produce the fissions of material is non-negotiable and says it is allowed to enrich uranium under the provisions of the non-distribution treaty treaty. The 2015 nuclear deal that Trump abandoned during his first term has imposed strict restrictions on the extent to which Iran was allowed to enrich uranium, in terms of purity and quantity. Iran began violating the caps after Trump left the agreement in 2018 and placed stricter sanctions against the Islamic Republic. -With help from Eltaf Najafizada and Sam Dagher. (Updates with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Defense, meet Iran’s highest leader in the fourth paragraph.) More stories such as these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP first published: 17 Apr 2025, 09:00 IST