Upon his arrival at Vienna airport on Tuesday from a visit to Iran, Amano pointed to scheduled talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany and voiced the agency’s readiness to implement the needed verification measures.
"If there is some agreement between the major world powers and Iran and if we are requested to implement some verification measures, we are prepared to implement them," the IAEA chief pointed out.
On Monday, Amano appreciated Tehran for its increased cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog and the “important steps” it has taken for the verification of its nuclear activities.
“Important measures have been taken (by Iran), but more jobs have still remained to be done and we will pursue them in the next steps,” Amano said in a joint press conference with Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran on Monday.
Noting that Iran and the IAEA have agreed on a joint statement, he said, “The statement specifies the framework of Iran-IAEA cooperation on verification (of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities).”
He said based on the joint statement, serious measures will be taken to verify the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities
“The decision has been made to take the necessary actions based on the joint statement for a three-month period starting from today,” Amano said.
Iran on Monday issued the needed permission for the International Atomic Energy Agency to start inspection of its heavy water reactor in Arak and Gachin Uranium Mine near the Southern city of Bandar Abbas, two bones of contention in Iran-IAEA debates in recent years.
“The voluntary measure was adopted by the permission of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) to show Iran’s good will, (otherwise) Iran has not such duty on the basis of the safeguards undertakings,” Salehi told the press conference.
He said that the permission was issued after Iran and the IAEA agreed on a road map for cooperation and the Iranian government’s new approach to voluntarily increase cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Salehi added that Iran has also issued the permission for the IAEA’s inspection of Gachin uranium mine.
Arak heavy water reactor uses natural uranium to produce radio medicines and it is planned to replace the Tehran research reactor gradually. The reactor is resistant to strong blasts as well as 8-magnitude earthquakes.
Salehi made the remarks after meeting Amano who arrived in Tehran early Monday to hold talks with Iranian officials on a “new framework for cooperation” between the two sides.
Late in October, after two days of talks, Iran and the IAEA inked a new agreement based on which both sides are committed to pursue the settlement of Tehran's nuclear case at the UN body.
During the second round of their talks at the time, Iran and the IAEA reached a new accord which would replace the previous frameworks.
The new agreement was the most important achievement of the two-day talks in Vienna.
On October 29, a senior diplomat close to the Iranian team of negotiators with the IAEA revealed that Tehran has submitted new proposals to the IAEA in its talks with the UN nuclear watchdog.
