Iran, UN atomic watchdog agree on further steps to address nuclear concerns

The United Nations and Iran have agreed on additional practical measures aimed at allaying concerns about the country’s nuclear programme, which its officials have stated is for peaceful purposes but some other countries contend is driven by military ambitions.

The five additional measures agreed yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran are to be implemented by Tehran by 25 August 2014.

They include exchange of information with the Vienna-based Agency, including on allegations related to the conduct of large-scale high explosives experimentation in Iran.

Among the new measures, Iran also agreed to arrange a technical visit to a centrifuge research and development centre.

Iran’s nuclear programme has been a matter of international concern since the discovery in 2003 that the country had concealed its nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Last November, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed on a Joint Plan of Action with Iran aimed at achieving “a mutually-agreed, long-term comprehensive solution that would ensure Iran’s nuclear programme will be exclusively peaceful,” that would include a series of “voluntary measures” to be taken by Iran.