Rafael Grossi who was speaking at the Think Tank of the Council for Foreign Relations cautiously reiterated that after his visit to Iran and the reached agreement, it seems as if progress is being achieved towards reaching agreement with Iran on protocol issue. But of course, "we must wait and see if this is a true assumption, or not".
Referring to the unilateral US exit from the JCPOA and Iran's moves aimed at keeping it alive, he said that the 2015 agreement (JCPOA) is now turned into an empty shell.
The director general of IAEA all the same made it clear that the agency observers are present in Iran to supervise the country's nuclear program so that the result of Vienna negotiations agreements will be possible to be verified in double checking with their reports.
He said that accordingly, he is actively involved in consultations with all involved sides in JCPOA, to contribute to resuming of the Vienna negotiations to lead to a new agreement.
The IAEA and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran two weeks ago, and following a two-day visit of the agency's Director General Rafael Grossi to Tehran spoke about agreements towards resolving the protocol issues, based on which Iran voluntarily permitted IAEA observers to increase their supervision activities to be used in verification processes.
The method of implementing that agreement was supposed to be clarified in bilateral meetings.