Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated that the Iranian government must reach an understanding with the administration of Donald Trump, the newly elected president of the United States, to prevent another military conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking to Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the 2025 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Grossi said: “We are engaging with Russia, with China, with the European countries, but it’s clear for everybody that the US is indispensable,” he said.
In this interview, published on Tuesday, January 21, he added: “What we need is to find an understanding. This is going to be our mission in the next few weeks.”
With the defeat of Tehran’s proxy groups in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria, as well as the increase in the regime’s 60% enriched uranium stockpile, concerns about the Iranian government’s attempts to acquire nuclear weapons have intensified.
The Director General of the IAEA confirmed that the Iranian regime continues to produce large quantities of highly enriched uranium and emphasized: “Now we need to come to terms with how we deal with this, excluding, of course, a war.”
During Donald Trump’s first term as president, he pursued a “maximum pressure” policy against the Iranian regime and withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement reached during Barack Obama’s administration, which imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Previously, Marco Rubio, the new U.S. Secretary of State, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 15, emphasized that the Iranian regime is in its weakest state and added that any concessions to the Iranian regime would be used to expand its nuclear program and create tensions in the Middle East.
Marco Rubio further stated that there are two lines of thought within the Iranian regime: one suggesting that the situation is dire, and time must be bought, and the other advocating reliance on nuclear capabilities by enriching uranium from 60% to 90% to safeguard against any external actions.
In this context, Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, recently warned that the acceleration of Iran’s nuclear program is reaching very close to the point of no return.
Last December, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France accused the Iranian government of increasing its enriched uranium stockpiles to unprecedented levels without providing any credible civilian justification for this action.
These three powerful U.S. allies in Europe emphasized their determination to use all diplomatic tools to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons, including invoking the snapback mechanism if necessary.
The snapback mechanism, which is part of the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allows the signatories to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran in case of “significant non-compliance” with the agreement.
The option to activate this mechanism expires this October, adding greater urgency to the ongoing diplomatic efforts.
