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Middle East and North Africa

IAEA to hold special meeting of Board of Governors on Iran

The UN nuclear watchdog will use the document as a basis to draft a plan for checks and will bring it up for discussion at the Board of Governors meeting on January 24

© AP/Hans Punz/dapd

VIENNA, January 14 (Itar-Tass) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold an extraordinary meeting of its Board of Governors on Iran’s controversial nuclear program on January 24, a diplomatic source in Vienna said Tuesday.

The board is expected to agree an action plan worked out jointly with six international negotiators to verify that Tehran is implementing its deal with the international community to restrict its nuclear program.

Iran says it needs nuclear power to generate electricity, but Western powers led by the United States claim Iran’s eventual aim is to create nuclear weapons.

The diplomatic source said a nine-page list of technical measures to verify Iran’s program had been handed to the IAEA’s deputy director general, Tero Varjoranta on Monday. The UN nuclear watchdog will use the document as a basis to draft a plan for checks and will bring it up for discussion at the Board of Governors meeting on January 24.

“The nine-page document contains a detailed description of nuclear facilities and the way their monitoring will be conducted,” the source said.

Iran agreed to stop uranium enrichment to 20 percent and limit other parts of its nuclear research and will have economic sanctions against it eased in return. The six international negotiators - Russia, China, France, Britain, the United States and Germany - are set to continue talks with the Islamic republic on a permanent accord.

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