Iran, UN Nuclear Watchdog Agree on 3-Month Timetable To Resolve Issues

Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, have agreed on a three-month timetable to resolve issues that are stalling agreement on a new nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and the world powers. The announcement of the plan came on Saturday during a visit to Tehran by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi. Grossi met with Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. He also met with Mohammad Mokhber, Iran’s senior vice president. Under the plan, Iran will provide documents to the IAEA in order to clarify the presence of uranium traces found at several undeclared sites in the Islamic Republic. The IAEA has been working for several years to discover the origin of the traces of uranium, at four locations in Iran, which indicate that nuclear material was previously present. The uranium traces are a concern to the world powers as they attempt to close a new nuclear deal with Iran, as negotiations, which are said to have reached their final stage after nearly a year, continue in Vienna. Eslami, president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said, according to Reuters, that the men had reached an “agreement” that would see Iran “presenting documents that would remove the ambiguities about our country.” He said the documents would be presented by the second half of May.