The Vienna based United Nations nuclear watchdog said it had a “constructive exchange” with Iran this week but there was no sign of a breakthrough on aspects of its nuclear programme that the agency says Tehran has failed to fully address.
In any final deal with the Iranian regime, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would play a major role in monitoring Tehran’s compliance.
The IAEA that is investigating the Iranian regime’s nuclear programme in parallel to talks between Tehran and six world powers said in March it expected progress with Iran this month on outstanding issues related to the nature of neutron calculations and alleged experiments on explosives that could be used to develop an atomic device.
It said then it expected Iran to propose new measures to address other outstanding issues with the IAEA by mid-April, however, the IAEA on Thursday issued a short statement saying it had technical talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Wednesday, making no mention of major developments.
“The two sides … had a constructive exchange on the two practical measures under discussion,” it said. “The Agency and Iran will continue this dialogue and agreed to meet again in the near future.”
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said on March 2: “Iran has yet to provide explanations that enable the agency to clarify two outstanding practical measures,” Yukiya Amano told the body’s Board of Governors in Vienna, echoing a report seen by Reuters last month.
“The agency is not in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”
He added that his agency remained ready to accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues, but “this process cannot continue indefinitely”.
Source: Reuters
