TEHRAN (Tansim) – Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi hailed a recent visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano to Tehran, saying the grounds for mutual cooperation were discussed during the meetings.

In a televised interview on Monday night, Kamalvandi said Amano was invited to Iran in a bid to accelerate the conclusion of one of the articles in Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the text of the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers whose implementation started on July 16.

He held meetings in Iran with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and AEOI Chief Ali Akbar Salehi, Kamalvandi noted.

The visit by the IAEA chief was constructive, the Iranian spokesman noted, saying, “We reviewed the grounds of our cooperation with the IAEA (during the visit).”

Amano arrived in Tehran early Monday, and Salehi was the first Iranian official he met with.

During the meeting, Salehi said he has called on the IAEA to increase its bilateral technical cooperation with Iran to compensate for years of opportunities lost due to the fabricated nuclear case against Iran.

“During the 10-12 years that they created the fabricated case, we lost the opportunities for technical cooperation with the IAEA,” Salehi said, speaking in a joint press conference with Amano.

Amano’s visit to Tehran came two days after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini announced in a joint statement that the implementation of the nuclear deal has officially been started.

With the implementation of the agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), all nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic were terminated.

By Tasnim News Agency