Official Calls Iran-IAEA Talks "Satisfactory"
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said nuclear officials representing Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are planned to hold a second meeting this evening, while he hailed as satisfactory the course of morning talks in Tehran.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Saturday, Behrouz Kamalvandi said a three-member delegation from the IAEA held a meeting with Iranian officials here in Tehran this morning, which lasted roughly two and half hours.
Earlier on Friday evening, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of Department of Safeguards Tero Tapio Varjoranta, accompanied by two other officials from the UN nuclear body, arrived in Tehran to hold talks with Iranian officials with the aim of forging closer cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the UN nuclear watchdog.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Kamalvandi said the negotiations are now on a satisfactory approach, noting that they will continue in the evening.
He said the morning meeting mainly focused on the topics on which the two sides had already reached an agreement, and added, “There are also a bunch of issues about the future that we have not discussed so far.”
Last week, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi had announced that the IAEA inspectors have carried out an inspection of the country’s entire nuclear facilities, adding that they will make a report to the agency in the near future.
Salehi also noted that the IAEA’s inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities are being conducted smoothly.
Iran and the UN nuclear body signed a joint statement in November 2013 to outline a roadmap on bilateral cooperation on certain outstanding issues.
Under the deal, Iran agreed, on a voluntary basis, to allow the IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water plant and the Gachin uranium mine.
The IAEA inspectors had already visited the Arak heavy water production plant on December 8, 2013. And later on January 29, a 3-member team of the inspectors carried out an inspection of Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran.
In the meantime, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said on January 31 that after recent progress with Iran, it is time to handle “more difficult” issues pertaining to its nuclear program.
“We started with measures that are practical and easy to implement, and then we move on to more difficult things,” Amano said.
