IAEA chief urges Iran's full cooperation to resolve remaining issues: report

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Sunday called for Iran's full cooperation over the remaining outstanding issues pertaining to the country's nuclear program, official IRNA news agency reported.

Visiting IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said the best time has come to settle Iran's nuclear issue, as the confidence of the international community could be built towards Iran's nuclear program through the full cooperation of the country.

Iran and the IAEA agreed on a roadmap in July to resolve the remaining issues over the country's nuclear activities, and so far significant steps have been taken to accomplish it, Amano said.

He expressed the hope that the remaining issues would be solved by the deadline of Dec. 15. "This process (of implementing the roadmap) is not open-ended," he said.

As for the Iranians' concerns over the closure of intelligence about Iran's nuclear program, he said that the IAEA respects the confidential information about the nuclear activities of its member states, and seriously sticks to it.

On Sunday, Amano met Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi.

Amano's visit to Tehran came as the IAEA is racing to implement an agreement reached in mid-July between Iran and the world powers to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff.

Under the agreement, Iran would improve the transparency of its nuclear plan while freezing some of its nuclear activities in exchange for sanction relief.

The P5+1 countries, including Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, want strengthened monitoring measures to ensure that Tehran complies with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its commitment to the comprehensive nuclear agreement. Endit