In a draft resolution for the consideration of the UN nuclear agency's board of governors, international partners that crafted the landmark nuclear deal with Iran asked the 35-nation board to agree to formally conclude the agency's investigation into Tehran's nuclear past, a key step to clear the path for the accord to take full effect.
Iran has demanded the closure of the probe as a precondition for implementing its deal commitments that, once verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency, will allow the accord to go into force.
Last week, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano submitted his final assessment of the PMD issue in a report to the board of governors, based on which the board will decide whether to conclude the IAEA's inquiry into what it calls possible military dimensions of Tehran's past nuclear program.
It is to do so by voting on a resolution submitted by the other side to the pact, or P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany), in a meeting on December 15.
Iran denies there is a military side to its program, saying it is solely for peaceful purposes.
***Details of Resolution
Following meetings between delegations of Iran and P5+1 in Vienna on Monday, draft copies of the confidential resolution were sent to board members.
"(The board) also notes that all the activities in the roadmap for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program were implemented in accordance with the agreed schedule and further notes that this closes the board's consideration of this item," the text said, Reuters reported.
The draft resolution provided for the board to tackle a new item covering "implementation and verification and monitoring" of the July deal in Iran, and for the IAEA to submit quarterly reports on Iran's implementation of its commitments under the accord.
More generally, it requests the head of the agency to "report, in this regard ... to the board of governors for appropriate action, and in parallel to the United Nations Security Council, at any time if the director general has reasonable grounds to believe there is an issue of concern."
***Understanding Among Parties
Speaking to reporters after the Vienna meetings, nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said he was satisfied with the draft resolution and expected it to be adopted next week.
Araqchi highlighted the consensus among the parties involved, expressing confidence that the board will close the PMD file in its mid-December meeting.
"I believe there is an understanding [among all parties] which will definitely lead to the closure of PMD issue," the head of the Foreign Ministry's office for implementation of the deal was quoted as saying by IRNA.
In a separate development, Iran's Ambassador to IAEA Reza Najafi told Fars News Agency on Tuesday, "The resolution is expected to be passed without changes on December 15."
Among the curbs Iran accepted on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief is reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, which it plans to do via a swap for non-enriched forms of uranium with Russia.
"That swap will be done before the end of the year," Najafi's Russian counterpart, Vladimir Voronkov, told reporters in Vienna on Monday.
