By Francois Murphy
VIENNA, June 24 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog will carry out inspections in Iran soon following an interim peace accord between the United States and Iran, its chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday, although Tehran later indicated that access to key sites remained contingent on a final agreement and sanctions lifting.
The two sides signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding last week setting out broad agreements in principle to end the war. The interim accord paved the way for 60 days of talks aimed at hammering out thornier details, including issues related to Iran's nuclear program.
"The inspections will indeed take place," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told a press conference in Japan, an audio recording of which the IAEA posted online.
"We will be working on the modalities — dates, procedures, places — very soon," he said of discussions with Tehran.
Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Wednesday that there were currently no plans to grant access to attacked nuclear facilities or nuclear material. He said such issues would only be addressed within the framework of a final agreement with Washington and after "practical steps" to lift U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Iran has not let the IAEA, which polices its nuclear programme, return to its most sensitive nuclear sites since the United States and Israel bombed them in June last year.
The IAEA has inspected other sites, but inspections were suspended after the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM KEY IN TALKS
A central issue in talks is what will happen to Iran's highly enriched uranium, including material enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons grade.
"Paragraph 8 of this memorandum of understanding states explicitly that nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with regards to nuclear material, facilities, will be supervised by the IAEA, in bold letters," Grossi said.
"Obviously, to do that, we will have to inspect. Whether this happens the day after tomorrow, or in one week, or in 10 days, it's important but not essential. So this is going to happen. Of course, if they (Iran) want to comply with the agreement. If they don't want (to), it's another matter."
Tehran appeared to push back on Grossi's comments. "Media noise cannot be used to impose facts on the ground," Gharibabadi wrote on X, indicating that inspection arrangements remained contingent on progress in negotiations over sanctions lifting.
Iran has not informed the IAEA how much of its enriched uranium survived the attacks or where it is. The IAEA estimates Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% before Israel launched the first attack on June 13 of last year. If enriched further, that would be enough for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.
Grossi has said the IAEA believes Iran has more than 200 kg of such material stored in a tunnel complex in Isfahan, central Iran, which was attacked but appears not to have been badly damaged.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy, Dubai newsroom; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
