Iran said on Wednesday it was ending a months-long standoff with the U.N. nuclear watchdog by granting it access to two sites suspected of once hosting secret activities, easing diplomatic pressure on Tehran as Washington seeks to reimpose sanctions, Reuters reports.
Wednesday’s breakthrough in the dispute over the sites was announced in a joint statement by Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency during IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s first visit to the Islamic Republic since he took over the role in December.
“Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA,” Grossi and Iran’s nuclear agency chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in a joint statement, confirming an earlier report by Reuters.
It said dates for IAEA inspectors to visit the sites - one near Karaj west of Tehran, the other near Isfahan in central Iran - had been agreed, without naming them, as well as the parameters of “verification activities” there.
