Iran, IAEA sign deal for inspecting more nuclear facilities

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Iran, IAEA sign deal for inspecting more nuclear facilities

(Xinhua) 08:14, November 12, 2013

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TEHRAN, Nov. 11 -- Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a cooperation deal in Tehran on Monday to enable the UN nuclear watchdog to have access to more Iranian nuclear facilities for inspection.

According to the agreement signed by Ali-Akbar Salehi, the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Yukiya Amano, the visiting chief of the IAEA, Iran will allow the UN nuclear watchdog's inspectors to visit Arak heavy water plant and Gachin yellow cake mine.

Salehi said the agreement "is a roadmap which clarifies the mutual steps to resolve the remaining issues" pertaining to the IAEA's questions on Iran's nuclear activities.

In the agreement, Iran announced its readiness to "voluntarily let the IAEA inspectors visit the Arak heavy water plant as well as the Bandar Abbas Gachin mine" in the south of the country, said Salehi.

"This shows Iran's flexibility (in its efforts) to close its case with the IAEA and to bar all the excuses used by some to hinder the progress of the work (nuclear issue)," Salehi added.

Amano said: "On the basis of this agreement between Iran and the IAEA, more cooperation will be done to reveal the truth and much serious work is required to be carried out in a three-month time, which begins from today."

"In this agreement, some points are not mentioned which had been referred to in our previous reports, and I emphasize that the agency will resolve the remaining issues with high spirit and through cooperation," added Amano.

The cooperation within the framework should be completed in a three-month period, he emphasized.

Also, Salehi told the state IRIB TV on Monday that Iran will not accept the demands for the inspection of the sites which had been inspected in the past. He said implying the military site of Parchin suspected for some weapon-grade experiments.

Salehi said that Iran has plans for building nuclear reactors for producing radio medicines as well as building nuclear power reactors in both the north of Iran at the Caspian sea region and in the southern country near Persian Gulf. The information about these reactors will be made available to the IAEA in due time, he added.

On Monday, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA Reza Najafi announced here that Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog will hold another round of talks on Dec. 11 in Vienna, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Amano arrived in Tehran Monday for talks with Iran after the Islamic republic and six world powers failed to reach an agreement in their talks in Geneva on the weekend.

Before leaving Vienna airport for Tehran on Sunday, Amano said he hoped the coming meeting would "produce concrete results" to resolve the outstanding issues.

The IAEA has held more than 10 rounds of meetings with Iran since 2011, as it wants Tehran to answer allegations that it was trying before 2003, and possibly since, to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons. It had refused IAEA requests to visit some sites in Iran where activities are alleged to have taken place, consult documents and speak to certain scientists.

Meanwhile, the talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany, have been more focused on Tehran's current activities, in particular uranium enrichment, with Iran seeking relief on sanctions.

The three-day talks between these parties ended last weekend with no agreement, but a decision to resume in ten days.

Western countries have long been accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, but Iran says the suspicion is baseless and fabricated, insisting its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.