UN inspectors can resume work at Iran nuclear sites after breakthrough deal

Tehran and the UN nuclear inspectorate have reached an agreement that will allow UN inspectors to return to inspect all of Iran’s nuclear sites, including those bombed by Israel and the US in June.

The breakthrough, confirmed by Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, came during a three-hour meeting on Monday between Grossi and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in Cairo.

Agreement on the return of the UN inspectors is one of the conditions set by European leaders for them to defer a plan to reimpose sweeping UN sanctions on Iran at the end of this month.

But the details of the Cairo agreement will be the subject of further talks, and Iran suggested no date had been set for the inspectors’ return. Araghchi also said it was dependent on there being no hostile action against Iran, including the reimposition of UN sanctions.