Zarif: Iran Nuclear Talks Litmus Test for IAEA Credibility
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers are regarded serious litmus test for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s capability to help negotiations meet with success, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
“The (International Atomic Energy) agency’s credibility in the process of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 is faced with a serious test, and success in that (talks) requires the IAEA officials to pay more attention and take practical and serious steps in this regard,” Zarif said in a meeting with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano in New York on Monday.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
The IAEA chief, for his part, expressed satisfaction with Iran’s constructive cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Amano also hailed the progress in nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), and underlined the IAEA’s preparedness and seriousness to play an “effective and timely” role in contributing to the negotiations.
Iran and the six powers are in talks to hammer out a lasting accord that would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program.
On April 2, the two sides reached a framework nuclear agreement after more than a week of intensive negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, with both sides committed to push for a final deal until the end of June.
They are scheduled to press ahead with drafting the text of the long-awaited accord in New York on Wednesday.