The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has called for the UN body to play a role in the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States, warning that Tehran is not far from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

His remarks, made in an interview with Le Monde on April 16, come ahead of the second round of talks between Iran and US scheduled for April 19 in Oman.

Grossi stressed that, while the IAEA is not directly involved in the bilateral dialogue, it is not indifferent to it.

“They know well that we will have to give our opinion on any potential agreement because we will be the ones to verify it,” he said, revealing that the agency has already initiated informal exchanges with both sides.

He stressed that without IAEA verification, any agreement would lack credibility. “Without us, any agreement is just a piece of paper.”

He further noted that although Iran possesses enough materials to produce multiple nuclear weapons, it has not yet crossed that threshold.

“There is still a long way to go before weapons are fully acquired. However, it must be acknowledged that this distance is not great. In the past four years, the acceleration of Iran’s activities in this field has been very impressive.”

Grossi arrived in Tehran later on April 16 for a two-day visit, during which he is set to meet Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI).

He said the visit is aimed at “rebuilding trust” and restoring the scope of the IAEA's technical monitoring, which has diminished since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal and the suspension of the Additional Protocol.

Russia’s envoy to Vienna-based organisations, Mikhail Ulyanov, described Grossi’s visit as particularly significant, stating that the Iranian nuclear programme is at a critical juncture.

While US-Iran talks have resumed after a three-year hiatus, efforts by Britain, Germany, and France within the IAEA Board of Governors could escalate tensions, he suggested in his Telegram channel on April 16.

These three nations, with the backing of a two-thirds vote, have tasked Grossi with submitting a comprehensive report on Iran’s nuclear activities by the end of May—potentially setting the stage for further international scrutiny and referral to the UN Security Council, he added.