Iran, IAEA has reached initial agreement on structured approach: Iranian diplomat

TEHRAN,Dec.22(MNA)– Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reached a preliminary agreement on a structured approach document for further investigation into the country’s nuclear program during their most recent meeting in Tehran on December 13, according to a Vienna-based diplomat. The unidentified diplomat told Xinhua on Thursday that the preliminary consensus is regarded as the precondition of the new round of talks, which is scheduled to be held on January 16, and also makes the agency more confident to achieve a breakthrough in its talks with Tehran. Both Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog said progress was made during their latest meeting. The deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Herman Nackaerts, said in Vienna on December 14 that “we expect to finalize the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that.” The IAEA has called on Iran to sign and implement a structured approach document to resolve the outstanding issues and has stated that gaining access to the Parchin military site, which is located southeast of Tehran, is a priority for the UN nuclear watchdog. The IAEA has claimed that Iran might have been trying to sanitize the Parchin site of any incriminating evidence of explosive tests that would indicate efforts to design nuclear weapons. Iran has dismissed the claim, calling it “baseless”. Tehran rejected requests by IAEA delegations to inspect the Parchin site during their visits to Iran from January 29 to 31 and February 21 to 22 and has made it clear that access to the site would not be possible before an agreement is reached on the structured approach document.