Addressing the June meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that progress has been made in implementing the Iran-IAEA joint statement about safeguard issues.







In early May, the IAEA installed surveillance cameras in Iranian facilities where centrifuge equipment is produced, Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

In order to monitor the level of uranium enrichment produced by Iran in the said facilities, the�IAEA,�for the first time, installed an enrichment monitoring device in the Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites, he added.

These measures will help the agency quickly identify any changes in enrichment levels at these facilities, Grossi said.

Claiming that the�progress had not been as great as he had hoped, he said, "What needs to happen now is a sustained and uninterrupted process that will lead to the fulfillment of all the commitments contained in the joint statement without further delay."

Earlier on May 31, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a confidential quarterly report that it had decided to close off the investigation of traces of uranium allegedly found at the Marivan site in Abadeh County, the southwestern province of Fars, after receiving a "possible explanation" from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).

�The agency at this time has no additional questions on the depleted uranium particles detected at Marivan ... and the matter is no longer outstanding at this stage,� the watchdog said.

The Marivan site is the first to be addressed under a work plan agreed upon by Iran and the IAEA back in March. The other two sites are in Varamin and Turquzabad, both located on the outskirts of Iran�s capital, Tehran.

The confidential report by the Vienna-based IAEA also said its inspectors no longer had questions on uranium particles found to be enriched to 83.7% at Iran�s underground Fordow facility.

�The agency informed Iran that, following its evaluation of the data, the agency had assessed that the information provided was not inconsistent with Iran�s explanation ... and that the agency had no further questions on this matter at this stage,� the report said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors began its June meeting with the participation of 35 member states in Vienna, Austria, on Monday at noon.

The meeting, which will last until Friday, will address various issues related to nuclear safety, implementation of safeguards agreements, and strengthening the IAEA's scientific and research activities.

By Mehr