Iran Press/Europe: IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi spoke to NHK in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
Iran had announced the previous day that it would begin enriching uranium to 60 percent purity from the current 20 percent from Wednesday.
Grossi said Iran had informed the IAEA of its decision, and the agency's inspectors are on the site at a Natanz nuclear facility.
He added: "These are days for a diplomatic negotiation, which the IAEA follows very closely. "US and Iranian delegates held separate meetings in Vienna last week with officials from the European Union and others serving as intermediaries. They plan to hold more talks in the Austrian capital on Thursday about the nuclear deal."
Grossi described the negotiations as "very important." He said he thinks the talks' outcome will have a big influence on the agreement between his agency and Iran regarding inspections of nuclear facilities.
He said the IAEA might need to talk bilaterally with its Iranian colleagues to find a way forward if the concerned parties fail to agree by late May.
In late February, Iran and IAEA made a deal, according to which the agency will reduce its inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities for a period of three months, during which its cameras will continue to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities. If, after three months, the two sides reach an agreement on further cooperation, the data recorded by those cameras will be handed over to the IAEA; otherwise, Iran will further restrict inspections and delete the data.
Iran decided to reduce its cooperation with the agency after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated “toughest sanctions” on the Islamic Republic and also in the face of inaction of the European signatories to the pact to make up for the US withdrawal from the accord and lessen its economic impact on Iran.
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