Iran, IAEA Nail Down Plan to Resolve Outstanding Issues
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have agreed on a roadmap to resolve all outstanding issues that would help secure the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
"Today, we reached a conclusion that what is to be exchanged between the (International) Atomic Energy Agency and the Atomic Energy Organization (of Iran) should be done by end of (the Iranian month of) Khordad (June 21)," Mohammad Eslami said in a joint news conference with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Tehran on Saturday.
He added that Iran and the UN nuclear agency emphasized that the remaining issues between the two sides should be solved "within the framework of its own regulations and with no political influence, lobbying or interference that can affect the agency's decisions on its conduct towards and its interactions with Iran," Press TV reported.
The Iranian nuclear chief emphasized that the two sides agreed to follow these issues "in a completely professional" way based on the IAEA's regulations.
He called on the IAEA not to be swayed by political issues in its cooperation with Iran, expressing hope that "the process of cooperation will be totally natural, nonpolitical and professional so that the Iranian nation will see its effects in their lives."
"No political influence and lobbying should impact the decisions of the IAEA,” Eslami stressed, adding that Iran and the IAEA should follow the settlement of their issues in a “completely professional way.”
"There is no room for any political action,” he stressed.
Grossi arrived in Tehran late on Friday to discuss one of the last thorny issues blocking the revival of the Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the eighth round of the talks between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries has reached a crunch point.
"It is important to have this understanding ... to work together, to work very intensively," Grossi told the news conference.
"Without resolving these (outstanding) issues, efforts to revive the JCPOA may not be possible," he added.
The AEOI head said late last year that the organization is making efforts to deprive all ill-wishers of pretexts for the continuation of sanctions, after Iran took a voluntary measure to further collaborate with the IAEA.
