TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency
are scheduled to discuss ways to boost cooperation during a visit to Iran by an
IAEA high-ranking delegation.
A delegation of the IAEA is scheduled to begin a three-day visit to Iran
tomorrow in line with cooperation between the two sides.
The team, led by the IAEA Deputy Director-General Herman Nackaerts and the
agency's number two Rafael Grossi, will arrive in Tehran on Sunday at the
invitation of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).
The visit is aimed at holding talks within the framework of the IAEA article
of association to bolster cooperation between the two sides by resolving
ambiguities.
The UN atomic agency's team has no plan to inspect Iran's nuclear
facilities.
Earlier, Iran's Residing Representative to the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh announced that the visit by the IAEA
deputy director general, who also heads the organization's department of
safeguards, is aimed at negotiating issues of common interest between Tehran
and the agency.
"Iran's agreement to this visit indicates Tehran's interaction with the IAEA
to remove ambiguities and to hold a meeting based on the obligations of both
sides and within the framework of technical and expert issues," he explained
at the time.
The Iranian official also described the gesture as a sign of the
transparency of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program and Tehran's
cooperation with the IAEA.
Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear
weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never
presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran
denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes only.
Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to
provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel
would eventually run dry.
Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling
every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment,
Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning
down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.
Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical,
stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national
resolve to continue the path.
Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it
has come clean of IAEA's questions and suspicions about its past nuclear
activities.
