No Downside in IAEA Resolution on Iran’s Nuclear Case: Negotiator

Speaking in a televised interview broadcast on Tuesday night, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi pointed to the special meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on Tuesday, saying that an important stage in implementing the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers began with the IAEA’s approval of the resolution to close the so-called PMD case.

“No special negative point can be found in the resolution and its generalities and components are positive,” he said, adding that no concern (about Iran’s nuclear program) or negative expression has been mentioned in the resolution.

He went on to say that all parts of the IAEA resolution contain “positive and constructive literature”.

The resolution, proposed earlier by the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), was put to the vote in a session of the UN watchdog’s Board of Governors on Tuesday in Vienna and got approved with the unanimous vote of the member states.

It paved the way for actually closing Tehran’s nuclear dossier and starting the implementation phase of a lasting nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was finalized between Iran and the Group 5+1 in July.

The IAEA has been given the role of verifying Iran’s commitments under the nuclear deal with six world powers.

As part of a Road-map signed between Iran and the IAEA on July 14, the agency had been required to finish its investigations about Iran’s nuclear activities and submit a report to the Board of Governors by December 15.

A report released on December 2 by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano on Iran’s nuclear program confirmed that the agency has no credible indications of suspicious work in Tehran’s nuclear activities.