Iran’s nuclear chief on Wednesday called on Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi to maintain the agency’s impartiality, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Mohammad Eslami, president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, made the remarks on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran while reacting to recent comments by Grossi, who said Iran was enriching uranium to near military grade and was rapidly moving towards becoming a nuclear-armed state.

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Eslami said, “It is not acceptable that an international institution focuses solely on one aspect of the issue in a provocative manner and refrains from pointing to the main dimension, which is the failure of the other parties to the (2015 nuclear) deal to fulfill their obligations.”

He emphasised that the agency should maintain its neutrality and act professionally, adding, “We expect the agency’s director general, who is a veteran diplomat, to consider these issues.”

Speaking to the Italian news agency ANSA in the Italian capital Rome on Monday, Grossi said there was little point in seeking to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the agreement was “no longer useful.”

He stressed that in view of Iran’s “new realities,” a new agreement should be worked out, Xinhua news agency reported.

Reacting to Grossi’s remarks in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi called on the IAEA chief to speak “based on facts and technical reports from the agency’s inspectors.”

He added the development of Iran’s nuclear program was in line with technical needs and was being carried out completely under the IAEA’s safeguards monitoring, stressing that Iran’s enrichment program had no military objectives.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in 2015, agreeing to limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. However, the United States withdrew in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back its commitments. Talks to revive the deal, ongoing since 2021, remain stalled.