In Tehran, UN atomic chief says Iran implementing nuclear-related commitments

Visiting Iran, the head of the United Nations atomic energy agency on Sunday reiterated that the commitments undertaken by the country under the nuclear accord of 2015 are being implemented.

According to the press release issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), its Director General Yukiya Amano met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Vice-President and President of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, during a visit to the capital, Tehran.

Since January 2016, the IAEA has been verifying and monitoring Iran's implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council in 2015.

The accord between its five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), plus Germany, the European Union (EU) and Iran, set out rigorous mechanisms for monitoring limits on Iran's nuclear programme, while paving the way for lifting UN sanctions against the country.

The release said that the IAEA's verification and monitoring activities are conducted in an impartial and objective manner and in accordance with the modalities defined by the JCPOA and standard safeguards practice.

Mr. Amano reiterated that the JCPOA represents a clear gain from a verification point of view, and stressed the importance of full implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments in order to make the JCPOA sustainable.