Iran offers nuclear inspector access in exchange for sanctions relief, Bloomberg reports

Iran’s foreign minister has suggested in private talks at the United Nations that his country is willing to restore nuclear inspectors’ access to bombed facilities in exchange for sanctions relief, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Abbas Araghchi raised the idea in meetings with European and Middle Eastern diplomats while he was in New York for the annual General Assembly, which ended earlier this week, according to the diplomats, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The concession could help break deadlocked peace talks with the United States, Bloomberg reported.

The proposal has not been announced publicly. President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS’s “Face the Nation” last week only that Iran was willing to allow inspectors back in, saying: “That is absolutely correct.” Araghchi also pressed the Europeans to reverse last September’s UN sanctions “snapback” decision, a step they refused to take, the diplomats said.

The reported outreach signals the scale of Iran’s economic distress, the sources said. Inflation is now almost 90% year over year and the rial has weakened 30% against the dollar as sanctions bite, while a US naval blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz has choked off oil exports — no crude was loaded onto tankers last month, according to Bloomberg, based on preliminary satellite data.

President Donald Trump this week denied reports that he was willing to offer sanctions relief and the release of frozen funds to Iran in return for concessions on its nuclear programme.