The Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that ongoing discussions between Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi have led to progress and that gaps over several issues of mutual interest have narrowed.
"I don't want to go into details but I can anticipate that the two sides reach an understanding soon," Khatibzadeh told Press TV.
Earlier in the day, Eslami told reporters on the sidelines of an event in the Iranian capital, Tehran, that the cooperation between Iran and the IAEA will only by limited to the UN nuclear watchdog’s safeguards and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Eslami also said the IAEA’s request to access the TESA Karaj Complex, a centrifuge component manufacturing workshop in north-central Iran, is beyond the safeguards agreement and therefore “unacceptable.”
He further noted that if the UN nuclear watchdog seeks access to the nuclear site under the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), all other parties should move to fulfill their obligations.
“If the JCPOA is slated to be operational, all [parties] must fulfill their obligations and it is not that Iran fully complies with its obligations and the other party does not fulfill its obligations,” he asserted.
"When they do not fulfill their commitments and impose harsh, illegal and unjust sanctions on Iran and expand them every day, there is no reason to force us to comply with them [Iran’s obligations under the JCPOA]. We act within the framework of IAEA safeguards and NPT and do not accept anything other than that,” Eslami added.
