Iran agrees on seven 'practical steps' with IAEA

TEHRAN - Iran agreed to take seven "practical steps" in its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to a joint statement of Iran and the IAEA posted on the website of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on Sunday.

Based on the agreement, Iran will allow IAEA access to a uranium mine and yellow cake complex in the central province of Yazd. It agreed to provide more information about its Arak heavy- water reactor and implement the agreed procedure on the reactor. Also, Iran will provide information about its Lashkarabad Laser Center, unused material for fuel and enrichment as well as its need for exploding bridge-wire detonator (EBW).

The statement described the two-day talks between Iran and the IAEA, concluded in Tehran on Sunday, as "constructive technical talks."

"In the two- day talks, nothing was discussed about the possible military dimension of Iran's nuclear program," a member of Iran's negotiating team told semi-official ISNA news agency.

"About missile and deterrence programs of Iran, nothing was discussed and the IAEA negotiating delegation did not have any demand from Iran in this regard," he added.

Iran will implement the agreement by May 15, read the statement.

IRAN ENTERS TALKS "OUT OF GOOD FAITH"

The fresh round of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA on bilateral cooperation was "good, constructive and progressive," Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the AEOI said.

Iran entered talks with the IAEA "out of good faith" to help remove "artificial ambiguities" over Tehran's nuclear program as " the Islamic republic is not legally obliged under the Safeguards ( Agreement) to respond to such queries and ambiguities," Kamalvandi said.

The IAEA delegation also expressed satisfaction with Iran's cooperation in implementing the previously-signed deal with the UN nuclear body, he said.

No immediate comment from the IAEA delegation is made.

Inspectors of the IAEA visited Iran's Gachin yellow cake mine in the south in January 2014 and the Arak heavy water production plant in December 2013. The inspection was in line with the implementation of an agreement signed between the AEOI and IAEA in Tehran on November 11, 2013.

NO INTENTION TO SHUT DOWN NUCLEAR FACILITIES

However, cooperation with the IAEA does not mean to shut down or dismantle any of Iran's nuclear facilities, an Iranian atomic official was quoted as saying by Press TV on Sunday.

"None of the nuclear sites will be shut down or dismantled, and one should not be influenced by the foreign media hype," said Asghar Zare'an, deputy chief of the AEOI for Protection and Security.

"We need to bear in mind that the hostility of the enemies toward the Islamic Republic of Iran is endless. Therefore, we should wisely and prudently turn the enemies' hope into despair," he said.

Iran is ready to make some changes in Arak heavy water reactor to allay western concerns, head of AEOI, Ali-Akbar Salehi said on Thursday.

"We can do some design change, in other words make some change in the design, in order to produce less plutonium in this reactor, and in this way allay the worries and the concerns," Salehi told Press TV.

On January 20, Iran and the P5+1 group, including United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, started implementation of the interim nuclear deal they clinched in Geneva on November 24, 2013.

Under the agreement, Iran suspended 20-percent uranium enrichment and started the process of diluting and oxidizing its 196 kg stockpile of 20-percent enriched uranium in exchange for partial relief of the sanctions imposed on its energy and financial sectors.

The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers will be held in the Austrian capital of Vienna on February 18. Arak heavy-water establishment and the enrichment facility of underground bunker of Fordow are among the topics that world powers are going to discuss with Iran in order to reach a comprehensive deal.