IAEA plans ‘technical’ meeting with Iran in early April on open issues

The UN nuclear watchdog plans to start a “technical” dialogue with Iran aimed at advancing the process of obtaining explanations on outstanding issues such uranium particles found at old, undeclared sites, its chief said on Thursday.

“I’m ... aiming at having a far more clear understanding of this issue by the summer or before,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told a news conference, adding that the first meeting would be in Iran in early April and he hoped to report back to the IAEA board on progress by June.

Iran welcomed a decision by European nations on Thursday to scrap a planned resolution criticizing the country at a meeting next week of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Today’s developments can keep open the path of diplomacy initiated by Iran and the IAEA,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Britain, France and Germany had planned to introduce a resolution at the IAEA board of governors meeting criticizing Iran’s suspension of some nuclear inspections.