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No one expects breakthroughs at consultations between IAEA, Iran - Russian envoy

Russia welcomes the consultations that the IAEA and Iran are set to hold in Tehran in the coming days, Mikhail Ulyanov said

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russia welcomes the upcoming consultations between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran though no one expects any breakthroughs, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS.

"We welcome the consultations that the IAEA and Iran are set to hold in Tehran in the coming days," he noted.

The Russian envoy pointed out that the consultations had been scheduled for the second half of November but the "untimely and counterproductive" resolution that the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France had presented at a session of the IAEA Board of Governors, seeking to put pressure on Iran, had postponed the talks.

"It’s encouraging that the pause in talks did not last long. However, no one expects that breakthroughs will be achieved at the upcoming meeting. Still, hopefully, it will create conditions for a more detailed and substantive conversation in order to settle the unresolved issues related to the particles of anthropogenic uranium found at some Iranian sites," Ulyanov emphasized.

The Russian envoy also said that if both parties showed political will, "all these issues can definitely be resolved." "If it is done quickly enough, it may somehow help <…> add a constructive element to talks on restoring the nuclear deal, which are actually stalled at the moment but chances still exist to achieve a positive result," Ulyanov stressed.

The Al Arabiya TV channel reported earlier, citing a statement from an IAEA spokesperson, that a group of the agency’s experts would visit Tehran on December 18 as part of an investigation into the origin of enriched uranium particles found at three undeclared facilities in Iran.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on November 10 that talks with Iran had ended in Vienna without results but the parties would maintain contact. Reuters reported on the same day, citing an IAEA report, that Tehran had agreed to a visit by the agency to look into the origin of uranium particles found at three nuclear sites.

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