Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano who is in Tehran for talks with senior Iranian officials on the implementation of the roadmap the two sides signed in July for bilateral cooperation on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, attended a session of the Iranian Parliament’s ad hoc committee set up to review a nuclear agreement and discussed the IAEA’s Iran-related plans with the MPs.
He voiced his support for the continued cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, saying “since 2009 that I assumed the Agency’s chairmanship I prioritized the resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue through diplomacy since this is the approach in which I believe.”
“After six years we have been now presented with the best opportunity to settle Iran’s nuclear issue. With the country’s full cooperation we can gain the trust of the international community toward the peaceful purposes of Iran’s nuclear program,” said Amano.
He referred to the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the 5+1 group of countries in July, adding “last month the Board of Governors appointed me as the one in charge of measures related to the accord and my task will be verifying [Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities] which I am rest assured that through cooperation with Iran this task will be carried out correctly and we can bring the 20-month long negotiations to a definite conclusion.”
“We have agreed with Iran on a roadmap and have taken remarkable steps in this regard. This roadmap is firm and has its own schedule and the remaining issues between Iran and the IAEA are expected to be resolved by the end of 2015,” said the IAEA chief.
Amano further stressed that the IAEA respects the confidentiality of issues, adding “we have a regime to safeguard confidential information and fully abide by it and consider it very seriously.”
He added that Iran’s voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol will help prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
Amano also touched upon the issue on the agency’s refusal to cooperate with Iran in 2010 over the provision of 20 percent fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, saying “we tried to facilitate the settling of this issue in 2010 but the agreement from other countries did not come in time. I am hoping that after the implementation of the JCPOA, this issue will be considered in line with other technical cooperation.”
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