Iran nuclear deal: IAEA hopes for top level talks
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says he is hoping to return to Iran soon to meet with the country's president, Ebrahim Raisi or foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
He told Hardtalk's Zeinab Badawai that the IAEA was continuing to push for full access to Iran's nuclear sites.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful. But suspicions it was being used as a cover to develop a nuclear bomb prompted the UN Security Council, US and EU to impose crippling sanctions from 2010. Five years later a deal was reached that saw Iran limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.
US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in May 2018 and reinstated US sanctions. When sanctions were tightened in 2019 Iran responded by "reducing" its commitment to limit uranium enrichment.
