On Wednesday, Iran announced that it had agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations to enter two sites suspected of secretly containing nuclear materials, reflecting a breakthrough in the dispute over the two sites near Karaj and Isfahan.
This came in a joint statement issued by Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency during a rare visit to Tehran, by the Director General of the Agency, Rafael Grossi.
US intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency believe that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program that it stopped in 2003 for fear of being discovered. Tehran has long denied seeking to build atomic bombs.
"Iran voluntarily allows the International Atomic Energy Agency to enter the two sites identified by the agency," the statement said,
adding that "the International Atomic Energy Agency does not have any other questions nor any other requests to enter sites other than those announced by Tehran."
He added that it was agreed upon the dates of the agency's inspectors' visit to the two sites, without mentioning their names, in addition to an agreement on criteria for "verification activities" there.
The statement indicated that the agency pledged to maintain the confidentiality of technical information on the Iranian nuclear program.
Rouhani is speaking
In a meeting with the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that his country welcomes more cooperation with the agency.
He stressed that Washington has become fully convinced that its exit from the nuclear agreement was a strategic mistake.
For his part, the Director General of the Agency said that the nuclear deal is an important and major achievement in the agency's record.
Grossi arrived in Tehran on Monday to press for admission to the two sites that the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects may still contain or traces of undeclared nuclear material.
Grossi was allowed to visit Tehran in person, in the context of growing tension between the United States and its European allies over Washington's attempt to extend the arms embargo on Iran and re-impose international sanctions on it.
Britain, France and Germany rejected this initiative, believing that it would frustrate their efforts to save the 2015 nuclear agreement, which US President Donald Trump withdrew from his country in 2018.
But Iran said Grossi's visit was not related to the US move last week in the Security Council to reimpose sanctions.