(Bloomberg) — Iran will consider allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency to send US inspectors to monitor the country’s atomic activity if a new nuclear deal is brokered with Washington.
“If Iran’s demands are taken into account and an agreement is reached, Iran can reconsider the acceptance of American inspectors through the IAEA,” Mohammad Eslami, the head of the the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said in comments broadcast on state TV on Wednesday.
According to the terms of an existing agreement with the IAEA, Iran can approve a list of monitors to receive visas and inspect the country’s nuclear sites. The Islamic Republic has been criticized in the past for excluding experienced monitors and inspectors from the US and other western countries.
Iran’s caution increased after a series of sabotage attacks on its nuclear facilities, most of which it’s blamed on Israel.
Iranian and US negotiators said Friday they made modest progress in the latest round of indirect talks aimed at ending a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program and Washington’s economic sanctions on the oil-rich Persian Gulf state.
The talks have been focused on resolving a major disagreement over whether Iran should be allowed to continue operating its own uranium-enrichment capability.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country has been mediating between the US and Iran, said Wednesday that the two sides appear to be getting closer to a deal.
“There is hope that progress will be achieved and that everything is moving in the right direction,” Lavrov told an international security conference in Moscow.
Iran’s continuing right to enrichment of nuclear fuel is a “key issue,” he said in televised comments.
–With assistance from Jonathan Tirone and Henry Meyer.
(Updates with context on US inspectors and comments from Russian foreign minister.)
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