IAEA Report Shows Constructive Prospects for Cooperation with Iran

“In terms of content, the report has explicitly portrayed a clear image of the current status of [bilateral] cooperation and envisaged positive and constructive prospects in relations between Iran and the agency,” Kazem Gharibabadi told reporters on Friday. The Iranian official said it was expected that an overwhelming majority of the IAEA member states and the Board of Governors approve of the constructive nature of the relationship between Tehran and the agency. The IAEA report pointed to a trip by the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi to Tehran on August 24 and 25 and his talks with senior Iranian officials, which led to the issuance of a joint statement aimed at strengthening cooperation and building more confidence, the Iranian diplomat noted. “Based on the report, the agency has been granted access to one of the two demanded sites and the access to the second site has been planned for this month,” Gharibabadi said. He emphasized that Iran has proved its goodwill in interaction with the IAEA and expects that the Board of Governors and other members of the agency implement it independently, impartially and professionally to take a fundamental step toward the settlement of two or three safeguards issues. In its quarterly report on Friday, the IAEA said Iran has granted the agency’s inspectors access to one of the two sites it agreed last week for verification purposes. It added that the IAEA inspected the sites and took environmental samples there while the agency’s inspectors would visit the other site “later in September 2020 on a date already agreed with Iran, to take environmental samples.” On June 19, the Board of Governors passed a resolution, put forward by Britain, France and Germany – the three European signatories to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to push for inspections of two sites that the trio claims may have been used for undeclared nuclear activities in the early 2000s. It was the Israeli regime’s spy service that first came up with the allegations of such activity at the two sites. Iran has, however, strictly rejected the allegations. Source: Iranian Agencies