Rafael Grossi | The nuclear policeman

On July 2, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered his state to suspend practice with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s atomic watchdog. He explained this determination arsenic “a earthy effect to the unjustified, unconstructive, and destructive conduct” of the IAEA’s Director General Rafael Grossi.

Tehran believes Mr. Grossi cleared the crushed for Israel’s unprovoked strikes connected its atomic facilities by preparing a “misleading” study connected Iran’s compliance with non-proliferation obligations. On the ground of this report, the IAEA’s Board of Governors connected June 12, 1 time earlier Israel’s attack, adopted a solution stating that Iran had “failed to cooperate fully” with the Agency and accused it of “repeatedly failing to supply the Agency with technically credible explanations” to its assorted queries. Israel and the U.S. utilized this solution to propulsion guardant the communicative that Iran was connected the verge of making a atomic weaponry and the lone mode to halt it was to destruct its atomic installations done “pre-emptive” subject strikes.

Subsequently, aft Israel struck Iran’s atomic sites, Mr. Grossi made a clarification that seemed to locomotion backmost the content created by the June 12 resolution. In an interrogation with CNN, helium said, “We did not person immoderate impervious of a systematic effort by Iran to marque a atomic weapon.” A spokesperson of Iran’s Ministry of External Affairs shared the video clip of Mr. Grossi’s interrogation connected societal media with the comment, “This is excessively late, Mr. Grossi: you obscured this information successful your perfectly biased report…Do you cognize however galore guiltless Iranians person been killed/maimed arsenic a effect of this transgression war? You’ve made IAEA a spouse to this unjust warfare of aggression.”

It cannot beryllium denied that Mr. Grossi and the IAEA person played a large relation successful shaping the sermon astir Iran’s atomic programme. But is determination merit successful the Iranian assertion that nether Mr. Grossi, the IAEA has been acting successful alignment with Western, and successful particular, Israeli governmental interests?

Mr. Grossi, 64, is simply a diplomat from the Argentine Foreign Service. In a vocation spanning 40 years, helium carved a niche for himself successful atomic non-proliferation and disarmament, serving arsenic president of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (2014-2016) earlier assuming bureau arsenic Director General of the IAEA connected December 3, 2019. He said successful a 2020 interview, “I consciousness similar I prepared for this my full life.”

As the IAEA chief, Mr. Grossi made headlines successful 2022 for his energetic efforts to unafraid Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia atomic plant, which was caught successful the cross-fire of the Ukraine-Russia war. An accidental onslaught connected it could unleash a atomic catastrophe that would interaction overmuch of Europe. Mr. Grossi, astatine immoderate hazard to his ain life, personally visited the atomic works adjacent the frontline adjacent arsenic shells rained down not acold away. With the consent of the Ukrainian leadership, helium unopen down each but 1 reactor, and arsenic an further information measure, near down a squad of UN inspectors — an statement that continues to this day. But his efforts did not halt there.

A period later, helium went to St. Petersburg and met Russian President Vladimir Putin. His mission: to extract an assurance that Russian forces would not people the Zaporizhzhia plant. Mr. Grossi’s travel had the intended effect, with the Russians steering wide of attacking the facility.

IAEA’s mandate

Mr. Grossi’s actions were afloat successful keeping with the mandate of the IAEA, which is to beforehand and safeguard peaceful atomic programmes each implicit the world. Today, however, the IAEA is known much arsenic an bureau tasked with verifying that atomic materials meant for civilian usage are not diverted for weaponisation. In fact, IAEA inspectors cannot, and are not mandated to, hunt for weapons. They simply show atomic facilities to guarantee that the signatory state is fulfilling its obligations nether the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA).

Critically, IAEA inspections, by design, are incapable of generating verifiable grounds of the lack of a subject atomic programme. Nor tin its reports — with their catalogue of ‘failures’ successful compliance oregon practice — service arsenic a proxy for the beingness of a weaponisation programme, successful the lack of autarkic intel proving arsenic much. Since IAEA inspections cannot perchance screen each quadrate inch of a immense country, the occupation of ‘unknowns’ astatine ‘undeclared’ locations are a given. While these mightiness warrant further investigation, it is questionable whether they tin beryllium utilized to substance speculation astir a country’s intentions astatine a clip of escalating tensions.

And yet, the ambiguous wording successful the IAEA solution and Mr. Grossi’s nationalist statements did precisely that, lending credence to the communicative of Iran gathering a atomic bomb. Ironically, American intel leaked to the media, arsenic good arsenic a connection successful March 2025 by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed that Iran was not gathering a bomb.

Another large constituent of this communicative was that Iran had 400 kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which is not needed for civilian use. Mr. Grossi dwelled connected this facet often successful his nationalist pronouncements. Yet, it is not amerciable nether the NPT for a signatory state to clasp uranium enriched to 60%. For Iran, however, it was prohibited, but lone nether the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 statement which constricted its enrichment rights to 3.67% and capped its stockpiling of enriched uranium astatine 300kg.

But the JCPOA became defunct — astatine slightest from the Iranian position — the infinitesimal the U.S. withdrew from it successful 2018 and the sanctions alleviation guaranteed nether it for Iran failed to materialise. But Mr. Grossi went on with the presumption of holding Iran to a JCPOA the West had already scuttled, portion disregarding the IAEA’s ain resolutions that prohibit subject attacks connected civilian atomic installations.

Attacks prohibited

The IAEA’s General Conference solution (407) adopted successful November 1983 states that “all equipped attacks against atomic installations devoted to peaceful purposes should beryllium explicitly prohibited”. A draught solution of September 26, 1985, submitted jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden not lone forbade Israel from targeting Iraq’s civilian atomic facilities, it further called “upon Israel urgently to spot each its atomic facilities nether IAEA safeguards” – thing hard to envisage astatine a clip erstwhile exemption for Israel from planetary instrumentality is getting progressively normalised. Incidentally, some these resolutions were from a clip erstwhile the IAEA was led by Mr. Grossi’s illustrious predecessor, Hans Blix. Under the IAEA statutes and the UN charter, Iran is entitled to a peaceful atomic programme. It is besides entitled to extortion of its atomic installations from subject attacks. And yet, Mr. Grossi ne'er condemned the Israeli and U.S. strikes connected Iran’s atomic facilities. On the contrary, his words and deeds amplified suspicions astir Iran’s intentions, which were utilized by Israel and the U.S. to warrant their attack.

Today, successful the aftermath of a fragile and hard ceasefire, Mr. Grossi is backmost to stoking fears astir Iran’s atomic programme by claiming it could commencement enriching uranium again successful a substance of months. Not surprisingly, Iran has refused to let IAEA inspection of its bombed-out atomic facilities, with the Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, stating, “Grossi’s insistence connected visiting the bombed sites nether the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and perchance adjacent malign successful intent.”

Had Mr. Grossi displayed a small of the aforesaid urgency for protecting Iran’s civilian atomic facilities that helium did for Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia atomic plant, it whitethorn person gone immoderate mode toward protecting the IAEA’s credibility among atomic threshold states.