UN nuclear watchdog official to visit Iran in bid to improve ties, but no inspections planned

(Patria) - The deputy head of the United Nations nuclear energy agency will visit Iran in an attempt to mend strained relations, the Islamic Republic's foreign minister said on Sunday.

There will be no inspection of Iranian nuclear facilities during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visit scheduled for Monday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, AP reported.

The visit would be the first after a twelve-day war between Israel and Iran in June, when some key nuclear facilities were hit.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the country on July 3 to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, after US and Israeli airstrikes hit their most important nuclear facilities.

The decision is likely to further limit inspectors' ability to monitor Tehran's program, which has been enriching uranium to levels close to what is needed to make weapons.

"As long as we do not reach a new framework for cooperation, there will be no cooperation, and the new framework will definitely be based on the law adopted by Parliament," Araghchi said.

State media last week quoted Araghchi as saying during a television program that Tehran would only allow cooperation with the IAEA with the approval of the Supreme National Security Council, the country's highest security body.