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IAEA Report on Iran Expected Early Dec.

IAEA Report on Iran Expected Early Dec.
IAEA Report on Iran Expected Early Dec.

Questions about Iran's past nuclear work are expected to be answered in early December, when the UN nuclear agency plans to publish a report on the outcome of its investigations.

The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency will be issued ahead of a special December 15 board of governors meeting in Vienna, according to the three envoys involved in the July accord.

They asked not to be named discussing confidential information, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Tehran denies the western allegation that it may have been seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability, saying its program is totally geared for peaceful applications.

Iran and major powers reached an agreement on July 14 to resolve the lingering nuclear dispute. Under the deal, Iran agreed to time-bound restrictions on its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

The IAEA could set the stage for the July nuclear accord to be implemented.

That is because its publication will give Iranian technicians the green light to start removing the nuclear gear stipulated under the agreement. Once that is accomplished, sanctions will be lifted.

  Final Stage

"Iran is taking these preparatory steps at quite a high pace," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said on Wednesday in Brussels. "We are at the final stage."

The July accord stipulates that Iran needs to mothball more than 10,000 of its installed centrifuges, disable the core of a reactor in Arak, eliminate its enriched uranium stockpile and install monitoring equipment to let inspectors keep closer track of future activities.

Once the IAEA verifies that those steps have been taken, oil and financial sanctions that have negatively affected Iran's economy will be removed.

While Iranian technicians have made preparations, they were told on October 21 by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei not to remove any equipment before the report.

The IAEA Press Office declined to comment on the timing of the report.

 

Financialtribune.com