Envoy: IAEA’s Inspectors Visit to Iran No Part of Geneva Agreement

Iran’s Residing Representative at the IAEA Reza Najafi ruled out that a scheduled visit by the experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency is part of a recent nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany).
On Thursday, IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said that Iran had invited the agency to visit the Arak heavy water production plant on December 8. Some foreign media, however, claimed that the IAEA experts would visit Iran’s Arak heavy water facility as part of an agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

“Iran invited inspectors to come to the country on December 8 to visit the Arak heavy water production facility within the framework of an agreement between Tehran and the IAEA, , and Tehran has made no request for the presence of the inspectors in Iran and the inspection of its nuclear facilities under the Geneva agreement,” Najafi said on Thursday.

The upcoming visit by the IAEA inspectors comes after Tehran and the UN nuclear body signed a joint statement earlier this month under which Tehran agreed, on a voluntary basis, to allow IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy-water plant.

Earlier this month, Amano and Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi signed a joint statement in Tehran which presented a roadmap for future cooperation to resolve the remaining issues between the two sides.

According to the statement, the IAEA and Iran agreed to strengthen their cooperation and dialogue aimed at ensuring the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program through the resolution of all outstanding issues that have not already been resolved by the IAEA.

“The IAEA agreed to continue to take into account Iran’s security concerns, including through the use of managed access and the protection of confidential information,” the statement said.

According to the statement, it was agreed that Iran and the IAEA will cooperate further with respect to verification activities to be undertaken by the IAEA to resolve all present and past issues. It is foreseen that Iran’s cooperation will include providing the IAEA with timely information about its nuclear facilities and in regard to the implementation of transparency measures. Activities will proceed in a step-by-step manner.

“As a first step, Iran and the IAEA agreed to the practical measures listed in the attached Annex. Iran will provide the access and information within three months from the date of the statement (today). The IAEA will report to the Board of Governors on progress in the implementation of these measures,” it said.