Iran

IAEA chief arrives in Iran after JCPOA implementation

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The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, has arrived in Tehran on his first visit after the beginning of the implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

The IAEA chief arrived in the Iranian capital early on Monday, a day after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries started implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Amano is scheduled to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the AEOI, said on Sunday that Amano’s visit comes at the invitation of Iran, adding that the IAEA chief is expected to discuss with Iranian officials ways to speed up the implementation of the JCPOA.

“In the JCPOA, the implementation process is estimated to be eight years but we want to accomplish this sooner and this is doable through cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,” Kamalvandi added.
Kamalvandi stressed that Amano will not visit any nuclear site in Iran.

On Sunday, the IAEA confirmed that Iran had remained committed to its nuclear agreement with the P5+1 with Amano announcing that Iran had taken the “necessary preparatory steps to start the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).”

The announcement was made after “inspectors on the ground verified that Iran has carried out all measures required under the (July deal)… to enable Implementation Day to occur,” he said in a statement. The certification by the UN nuclear agency paves the way for the JCPOA to go into effect.

Soon after, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini read out a joint statement in the Austrian capital, Vienna, announcing that the JCPOA had indeed come into force.

According to the statement, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the UN Security Council and the US are lifted.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany finalized the JCPOA in Vienna, on July 14, 2015.

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