IAEA experts are in Iran meeting with senior governmental officials on the ongoing implementation of nuclear safeguards in the country. The visits follow talks in Tehran in early July between IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and Iran's President Khatami, Vice-President Aghazadeh,and Foreign Minister Kharrazi.
- One team, with talks held 5-6 August, includes legal and technical experts invited by Iran to clarify aspects related to the Additional Protocol to comprehensive safeguards agreements that States conclude with the IAEA.
- A second team, of safeguards inspectors, is going to Iran in the second week of August with a view to clarifying outstanding issues and, as appropriate, will conduct verification activities over the course of several days. Iran has a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA pursuant to the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The IAEA does not comment on the findings of ongoing safeguards activities. The Agency is still in the middle of a complex verification process in Iran and will be reporting to the next meeting of the Board of Governors, in September.
Web References
- Statements on Safeguards in Iran, with associated references on IAEA Web pages on Iran.
- Safeguards and Additional Protocols.
- An Additional Protocol would enable the Agency to conduct the in-depth and comprehensive verification that could generate, particularly in a country like Iran with extensive nuclear activities, the required assurances. -- IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, statement to Board of Governors, 18 July 2003.
- IAEA Director General ElBaradei's June 2003 report to the Board stated that Iran has failed to meet its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, the subsequent processing and use of that material and the declaration of facilities where the material was stored and processed. The report stated that the Agency has been informed that the pilot enrichment plant is scheduled to start operating in June 2003, initially with single machine tests, and later with increasing numbers of centrifuges. -- June 2003, IAEA Director GeneralReport to IAEA Board of Governors [pdf file].
- The enrichment plant is under IAEA safeguards, and the IAEA Board has encouraged Iran, pending the resolution of related outstanding issues, not to introduce nuclear material at the pilot enrichment plant, as a confidence-building measure. --Board Statement, issued by the Chairman, June 2003.
- The IAEA will continue to work diligently with Iran to ensure that the verification system is effective and comprehensive and creates the necessary confidence. For that we need full transparency. It is really in the interest of each country to be as transparent as possible, because that is the way to create confidence. The greater the transparency, the greater the confidence. -- IAEA Director General Statement to IAEA Board, June 2003.
- IAEA technical discussions with Iran are continuing, particularly concerning Iran’s enrichment programme in order to understand the full dimensions of that programme and the research and development involved. We are awaiting the results of past environmental sampling and are continuing to do more sampling. We will discuss the results with the Iranian authorities and request explanations where necessary. We will also continue to carry out thorough inspections. -- Director General Statement to IAEA Board, June 2003.