Iran, IAEA to Discuss Cooperation Framework
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN atomic energy agency announced that it would hold talks with Iranian officials in the Austrian capital of Vienna on the framework for mutual cooperation.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iranian officials will meet on Monday in Vienna for further discussions within the Framework for Cooperation," IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said on Sunday, AFP reported.
Last week, a delegation from the IAEA came to Iran and visited the Saghand uranium mine and the Ardakan concentration plant.
The visit was part of a framework accord on further cooperation that Iran and the UN nuclear agency signed in Tehran last November.
In February, Iran voluntarily agreed to implement seven new practical measures by May 15 to allay concerns regarding its nuclear activities.
The agency’s inspectors had visited the Arak heavy water site in Markazi Province and the Gachin uranium mine in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran as part of the agreement.
Meantime, the negotiations between representatives of Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) are scheduled to be held from May 13 to May 16 in Vienna.
The two sides wrapped up the latest round of their nuclear talks in Vienna on April 9. During the forthcoming round of talks, the parties will start drafting the text of a final agreement to end the decade-long standoff on Iran’s nuclear case.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and six world powers clinched an interim six-month deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The breakthrough deal (the Joint Plan of Action), which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.