VIENNA/TEHRAN – International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano and his senior aides will travel to Tehran on Sunday for talks with senior Iranian officials, the Vienna-based IAEA said on Friday. 

 

Amano “will travel to Tehran this Sunday… to discuss issues of mutual interest with high Iranian officials,” Reuters quoted the IAEA as saying in a statement. 

 

It said that Amano would meet on Monday with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, who is Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator.

 

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, confirmed on Friday the report that Amano will visit Iran.

 

Soltanieh said that Amano will hold talks with officials on “issues of mutual interest and a closer cooperation” between Iran and the IAEA.

 

The report comes as Western diplomats said that the IAEA and Iran were making headway towards a framework deal on how to clear up ambiguities about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities, according to Reuters.

 

The IAEA deputy director general and head of the Department of Safeguards, Herman Nackaerts, and Assistant Director General Rafael Grossi will be accompanying Amano.

 

Amano’s visit takes place two days before negotiators from Tehran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) will meet in Baghdad for nuclear talks. 

 

Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog met in Vienna on May 14 and 15 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. The two sides described the talks as promising.

 

After the second day of talks on May 15, Nackaerts said, “We discussed a number of options to take the agency verification process forward.”

 

He added, “We had a good exchange of views.”

 

Soltanieh also said on the same day, “We had fruitful discussions in a very conducive environment.” 

 

“We have had progress,” the Iranian ambassador stated.