Working out how to verify Iran’s compliance with its landmark new nuclear deal with world powers will “take some time”, the head of the UN atomic agency cautioned on Thursday.
“We are now looking at the way in which the elements of the agreement relevant to the Agency could be put into practice,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yuyika Amano said.
“This will include the implications for funding and staffing. This analysis will take some time,” Amano told a closed-door meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors, according to the text of his remarks.
In a major diplomatic breakthrough on Sunday in Geneva, Iran agreed with the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany - the P5+1 - to curb parts of its nuclear programme for six months in exchange for sanctions relief.
This six-month period has not begun and the start-date will be negotiated in upcoming “technical discussions” that will include the IAEA, according to a spokesman for P5+1 chief negotiator and EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton.
This six-month stop is meant to make it more difficult for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and to build confidence while Tehran and the P5+1 hammer out a long-term accord.
Iran has pledged to limit uranium enrichment to low fissile purities. It will also lower purity of its entire stockpile of medium-enriched material, which is relatively easy to convert to weapons-grade, or convert it to another form.
Iran also pledged for six months “not to make further advances” at its Fordo and Natanz enrichment sites and the Arak heavy water reactor, which could provide Iran with weapons-grade plutonium once operating.