Iran will cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency to “overcome existing issues once and for all,” Iran’s new ambassador to the UN said Thursday.
“We are looking forward to working closely with the [IAEA head Yukiya Amano] and his team in the coming days,” Reza Najafi in a statement to the IAEA in Vienna, according to Reuters.
Despite his willingness to work with the agency, he continued to maintain that Iran has a right to a peaceful nuclear energy program.
Western diplomats welcomed the remarks, but said it still remains to be seen if the government would back up its words with action.
Western powers, as well as other nations, suspect that Tehran plans to use its nuclear program to make atomic weapons and have been pressuring Iran with economic sanctions to cease its activities and give IAEA inspectors access to its facilities. The Iranian government denies the allegations.
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On Thursday, the LA Times reported that the US and Iran were getting closer to holding direct talks, as tensions between the countries appeared to cool slightly.
A day earlier, US envoy Joseph Macmanus told the IAEA’s 35-nation board of the “unique moment” produced by the election triumph of President Hasan Rouhani over more hard-line rivals.
At the same time, he suggested that the West will push at the IAEA’s November board meeting to punish Tehran by referring it to the UN Security Council unless it cooperates with IAEA experts trying to probe its alleged secret nuclear weapons work.
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