The United Nations nuclear watchdog for the first time Saturday gave a firm year-end timeline for reporting on the Iranian regime’s past nuclear activities for developing nuclear weapons if Tehran cooperates in coming months.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) may issue a report assessing what it calls the “possible military dimension (PMD)”, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said Saturday.
“I think we can issue out a report by the end of the year on the assessment of the clarification of that issues related to possible military dimensions,” Amano told reporters.
He stressed that once an agreement on the joint comprehensive plan of action is reached, “the IAEA is ready to implement the nuclear related elements when requested.”
“The IAEA has intensified engagement with the P5+1 and Iran in order to make the joint comprehensive plan of action technically sound,” he added.
The IAEA has been seeking responses to 12 sets of questions about the regime’s past nuclear activities aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons.
World powers negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran have long said Tehran must shed light on its past nuclear work as part of a final agreement.
Officials in Vienna have said Tehran would be given a list of concrete steps to take in the coming months, which would include allowing IAEA inspectors access to sites, people and documents relevant to Iran’s past nuclear work, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
In the past, Mr. Amano has said the IAEA’s concerns about Iran’s past work could be dealt with in a “reasonable” time frame if Tehran cooperated. But the agency has never given a specific timeline within which it would report back.
