Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency are close to signing an agreement according to IAEA head Yukiya Amano.
Mr. Amano told reporters that an agreement that would pave the way for a more thorough international investigation of the Iranian nuclear program would be signed “quite soon.”
Amano’s comments came shortly after returning to his organization’s headquarters in Vienna, after holding talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Tehran over the weekend.
Amano had flown to the Iranian capital on Sunday in hopes of ending a stalemate in negotiations between the UN nuclear agency and the Iranian government. The agency chief struck an optimistic tone saying “we understand each other’s position better” after the talks. He did caution that there are still some disagreements over implementation details.
The agreement centers on the UN nuclear agency’s role in investigating the true nature of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. The IAEA’s investigation had been delayed for the past 4 years due to Iranian objections over the inspection of certain sites and an unwillingness to allow interviews with government scientists.
The potential breakthrough with the international atomic watch dog comes days before talks are due to take place between Iran and representatives of six world powers (the US, China, Russia, the UK, France and Germany) who all want Iran to comply with UN Security Council resolutions on uranium enrichment.
One European diplomat speaking anonymously to the Guardian suggested that progress between the IAEA and Iran may bode well for nuclear negotiations as a whole. “If Iran can indicate it is ready to respond to international concerns over its nuclear program, that will be positive,” he said, but added “there will be no reward for simply turning up and the key issue for building confidence is still uranium enriched to 20% … If we are going to continue talking in good faith, there has to be something put forward by Iran.”
