IAEA urges Iran's cooperation to resolve remaining issues

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 programme, 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 programme 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 December 15. "This process (of implementing the roadmap) is not open-ended," he said.

On Sunday, Amano met Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif and head of the Atomic Energy Organisation 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 the US, Britain, China, France, Russia 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.