UN nuclear watchdog says US-Iran talks at a ‘very crucial’ stage

By JON GAMBRELL and AMIR VAHDAT Associated Press DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP Talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran s rapidly advancing nuclear project are in a very crucial stage the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog commented Thursday while on a visit to the Islamic Republic The comments by Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Capacity Agency in Tehran included an acknowledgment his agency likely would be key in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached Iran and the U S will meet again Saturday in Rome for a new round of talks after last weekend s first meeting in Oman Grossi s visit also coincided with Saudi Arabia s defense minister Prince Khalid bin Salman visiting Tehran as the highest-ranking official from the kingdom to visit Iran since the two countries reached a Chinese-mediated d tente in That s as Saudi Arabia tries to end its decadelong war against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen even as a new intense campaign of U S airstrikes targets them In this photo issued by the Atomic Potential Organisation of Iran International Atomic Force Agency IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi left shakes hands with head of the Atomic Vigor Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami at the Atomic Vigor Organisation of Iran in Tehran Iran Thursday April Atomic Vitality Organisation of Iran via AP The stakes of the negotiations Saturday and the wider geopolitical tensions in the Mideast couldn t be higher particularly as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Gaza Strip U S President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran s nuclear operation if a deal isn t reached Iranian agents increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels Grossi visits during crucial Iran-US talks Grossi arrived in Iran on Wednesday night and met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi who now is in Moscow for separate talks likely over the negotiations On Thursday Grossi met with Mohammad Eslami the head of the Atomic Vitality Organization of Iran then later toured a hall featuring particular of Iran s civilian nuclear projects We know that we are in a very crucial I would say stage of this major negotiation so I want to concentrate on the positive Grossi reported Iranian media There is a possibility of a good outcome Nothing is guaranteed We need to make sure that we put all of the elements in place in order to get to this agreement He added We know we don t have much time So this is why I m here This is why I m in contact with the United States as well Petitioned about Trump s threats to attack Iran Grossi urged people to concentrate on our objective Once we get to our objective all of these things will evaporate because there will be no reason for concern he stated For his part Eslami reported Iran expected the IAEA to maintain impartiality and act professionally a document from the state-run IRNA news agency announced Since the nuclear deal s collapse in with Trump s unilateral withdrawal of the U S from the accord Iran has abandoned all limits on its scheme and enriches uranium to up to purity near weapons-grade levels of Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted while Iran has barred particular of the Vienna-based agency s the greater part experienced inspectors Iranian bureaucrats also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons something the West and the IAEA have been worried about for years since Tehran abandoned an organized weapons operation in Despite tensions between Iran and the agency its access has not been entirely revoked But Grossi acknowledged in a French newspaper interview that Iran has enough material to build not one but several bombs It s like a jigsaw puzzle they ve got the pieces and one day they might be able to put them together he stated Le Monde There s still a long way to go before that happens But they re not far off admittedly Saudi prince becomes kingdom s highest-level visitor to Tehran in decades Prince Khalid bin Salman the son of King Salman and the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Tehran on Thursday Iran s joint chief of staff Gen Mohammad Bagheri greeted the prince on his arrival and an honor guard played for the two men Prince Khalid a fighter pilot has become the first Saudi defense minister to visit Iran since the Islamic Revolution He s also the highest-ranking Saudi royal to visit in decades The last was King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz who did so as crown prince in for an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting held in Tehran The state-run Saudi Press Agency announcing the prince s arrival stated his trip would include a number of meetings to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and issues of common interest without elaborating The visit is major particularly given the decades of enmity between the two countries Saudi Arabia has been for years trying to get a peace deal agreed to with the Houthis A de facto ceasefire broadly has halted hostilities in the war though the Houthis increasingly have threatened both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates amid the U S airstrikes Vahdat released from Tehran Iran Associated Press writer Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this document