IAEA board meeting convenes; Iran, JCPOA on agenda

The closed meeting held virtually will start with the opening speech by the IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi briefing member states on the agency's activities. He is going to have press availability after the board session.

Russia's permanent representative in the international organization in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov warned yesterday against any external interference in the ongoing talks on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, expressing an undesirable assessment of the IAEA's two recent reports on Iran.

The Board meeting is held on the condition that the UN nuclear watchdog has raised some claims on what it has called undeclared nuclear activities by Iran.

Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement in March, based on which Tehran would suspend the legislation to halt implementing Additional Protocol. They also agreed that Iran keeps cameras in nuclear sites alive but avoids submitting the recordings until the US sanctions on Iran are removed.

The agreement expired last week, but the Iranian side gave another one-month opportunity to let the talks in Vienna move forward until an agreement is reached.

Iran and other JCPOA participants are moving forward with the talks in Vienna to provide a framework for the US to remove sanctions and for Iran to reverse the measures take to reduce compliance with the nuclear deal.

While the US has an indirect attendance in the talks, the sides have said that great progress has been achieved, but the final agreement was yet to be made due to some disagreements in fundamental issues.

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