<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares received the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, in Madrid on Wednesday. They discussed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and the Iranian nuclear program.</strong></h4> “We addressed the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and the Iranian nuclear program,” Albares wrote on social media after the meeting, held at the Ministry headquarters in the Palacio de Viana. “I also conveyed my support for multilateralism and the United Nations, and we discussed the upcoming election for UN Secretary-General,” he added. “Thank you for receiving me in Madrid,” Grossi wrote, also on social media. He stated that the meeting served to discuss “Iran’s nuclear program, nuclear safety at nuclear power plants in Ukraine, and the critical role of the IAEA.” “We also discussed the growing importance of an effective United Nations at a time of global tension,” he continued. “We thank Spain for its firm and unwavering support for the Agency’s work,” he concluded. Last Friday, January 9, the IAEA began consultations with Russia and Ukraine to establish a temporary ceasefire in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, which was damaged by “military activity” and taken offline on January 2, as Grossi himself reported in a statement. “The IAEA remains actively engaged with both parties to ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant,” he declared. “We are confident that the Russian Federation and Ukraine will continue to cooperate constructively with us to carry out these essential repairs and reduce the risk of an accident,” the Argentine diplomat added. Last July, the Spanish government expressed its “concern” over the decision by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. Tehran had denounced Grossi's "politically motivated" reports, which, in its view, had served as a "pretext" for the Israeli-American offensive against Iranian nuclear facilities. Therefore, Pezeshkian passed a law barring IAEA inspectors from entering the country unless the security of Iran's nuclear facilities and the regime's "peaceful nuclear activities" were guaranteed.
