TEHRAN - According to a source, Iran and the UN nuclear agency have settled their disputes over one of the three places where the IAEA suspected the presence of undeclared nuclear material and the finding of uranium enriched to 83.7 percent at Iran’s Fordow, Tasnim reported.

The source said that the technical conversations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency resulted in the reduction of the number of unresolved cases to only two.

Based on the source, the IAEA’s request for an explanation on what it alleges to be undeclared traces of uranium at one of the three sites has been resolved.

The informed source said that the alleged Abadeh (Marivan) issue had been settled and that the IAEA had based its allegations that Iran had been enriching uranium at four secret facilities on erroneous and unreliable evidence.

The source added that another disagreement with Iran over the UN nuclear agency’s discovery of uranium that had been enriched to an 83.7 percent level during an inspection of the Fordow nuclear site has been settled as a result of Iran’s technical explanations.

The source also said that about one-third of the IAEA cameras have already been installed and are operating in offline mode without transmitting data, and that Iran has consented to the installation of a number of cameras at the Isfahan nuclear facility.

Grossi message to Amir Abdollahian 

Prior to the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, which will be held in Vienna next week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and Iran’ envoy to Vienna, Mohsen Naziri Asl, held a meeting to discuss and review the latest developments of interactions with the IAEA as well as the prospect of cooperation. 

Naziri Asal also presented the message of Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general to Amir Abdollahian surrounding the agency’s readiness to continue cooperation and contact the high-ranking Iranian authorities. 

Amir Abdollahian welcomed the cooperation between the agency and Iran, which led to the resolution of some remaining issues, and emphasized the need for constructive interaction between the IAEA and Tehran with the aim of promoting cooperation.

He also mentioned the importance of interaction at high levels with the IAEA officials and welcomed the director general’s proposal for contact at appropriate levels.

Grossi visited Tehran back in March which at the end of his tour, Iran and the UN body issued a joint statement in which they committed to working more closely together to iron out any unresolved issues with the Safeguards Agreement.

The two sides concurred, according to the statement, that bilateral interactions will be conducted in a spirit of cooperation, in full compliance with the IAEA’s competencies and Iran’s rights and duties under the comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.

“Regarding the outstanding safeguards issues related to the three locations, Iran expressed its readiness to continue its cooperation and provide further information and access to address the outstanding safeguards issues,” the statement highlighted.

The following is the text of the joint statement by the two sides posted on the IRNA website:

IAEA Director General Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi visited the Islamic Republic of Iran on 3 and 4 March 2023. In the context of his visit, he met President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H. E. Mr. Ebrahim Raisi, as well as with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. E. Mr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and the Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), H. E. Mr. Mohammad Eslami.

These high-level meetings addressed the importance of taking steps in order to facilitate enhanced cooperation, to expedite as appropriate the resolution of outstanding safeguards issues.

Both sides recognize that such positive engagements can pave the way for wider agreements among state parties.

The AEOI and the IAEA agreed on the following:

* Interactions between the IAEA and Iran will be carried out in a spirit of collaboration, and in full conformity with the competences of the IAEA and the rights and obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the comprehensive safeguards agreement.

* Regarding the outstanding safeguards issues related to the three locations, Iran expressed its readiness to continue its cooperation and provide further information and access to address the outstanding safeguards issues.

* Iran, on a voluntary basis will allow the IAEA to implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities. Modalities will be agreed between the two sides in the course of a technical meeting which will take place soon in Tehran.

In a sign that the West is willing to intensify its propaganda campaign against Iran, Bloomberg claimed in February that the UN nuclear watchdog’s inspectors had found uranium enriched to purity just short of weapons-grade levels.

According to Bloomberg, inspectors from the IAEA found uranium materials in Iran that are enriched up to 84%.

“Inspectors need to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the material, or whether the concentration was an unintended accumulation within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate the isotopes,” Bloomberg said.

Iran has unequivocally denied the report that it had enriched uranium to levels higher than 60 percent purity, asserting that the nation’s nuclear facilities have never breached the level.

Bloomberg claimed “the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is seeking to understand how Iran acquired uranium enriched to 84% purity.” 

It was also purportedly said that highly enriched uranium particles had been discovered by IAEA inspectors “inside the network of pipelines linking centrifuges used to segregate uranium isotopes.”

At the time, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said Bloomberg’s report was an attempt to falsify the facts.

Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said in March that some members of the IAEA leak sensitive information to complicate the talks surrounding the Iran nuclear issue. 

“Some #IAEA member states always leak sensitive information. This isn’t the fault of the Agency’s Secretariat. With a great degree of probability, we can identify those member states who leak confidential information in order to complicate discussions in the IAEA Board of Governors,” Mikhail Ulyanov said. 

In another tweet, he said, “The removal of cameras from the Iranian nuclear installations was a pretty significant result of #E3 and #US-sponsored resolution of the #IAEA Board of Governors on #Iran. The neutralization of this strategic irresponsible mistake is not an easy task.”