IAEA Can Verify Iran Nuclear Program in ‘Reasonable’ Time, Amano Says

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the process to verify the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program will not be endless and can come within a “reasonable” period of time, Press TV reports.

Speaking at a press conference after the IAEA Board of Governors session on Monday, Yukia Amano said that issues related to the Potential Military Dimension (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program can be clarified in a reasonable timeframe, adding, however, that resolving the PMD issue will not necessarily come before the end of June, by when Iran and international powers are supposed to ink a final deal on Tehran’s unclear program.

“It will not be an endless process, but this is not bound by the June 30th target date,” Amano told reporters during a press conference in the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Amano had previously stated that a potential deal between Iran and international powers could grant the IAEA a right to inspect the country’s military sites if Tehran joins the Additional Protocol to the IAEA Safeguards Agreement.

Elsewhere in his press conference, Amano reiterated that the signatories to the Additional Protocol are supposed to provide the agency with some “very detailed declaration covering wide scope of their activities.”

Iran has unequivocally ruled out giving access to its military sites, with Foreign Minister Mohammad JavadZarif saying earlier in May the country may only provide the IAEA with some “managed access” to the country’s non-nuclear sites.

Answering questions on how long it will take for the IAEA to give its assessment on the PMD issue, Amano said it depends on “the extensiveness of activities and the level of cooperation” between the agency and Iran.

“A clarification of PMD … cannot be done in weeks’ time but it cannot be a years’ time issue,” said Amano, adding “… there is a need to accelerate and I very much welcome the clarification of issues with PMD resumes immediately.”

Iran and a group of international powers known as P5+1 – Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany – are working to reach a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear program by the end of June. The two sides reached a mutual understanding in April, which set the general guidelines for the final deal.

R.S