Iran has demanded that the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency end its investigations into the discovery of traces of nuclear materials at secret sites, at a time when the Russian representative spoke of progress in the new round of Vienna talks to revive the nuclear agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian reiterated his objection to investigations conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency with the aim of clarifying secret nuclear activities in the past.
"We will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but it must distance itself from political deviations and implement its work within a technical framework," Amir Abdollahian said in a phone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The Vienna talks were suspended in mid-March, with points of disagreement remaining between Tehran and Washington, and resumed last Thursday in the wake of the European Union - which is coordinating the discussions - put forward a settlement proposal, which he said takes into account the various observations.
And last Friday, an Iranian official source confirmed that one of the points - which is currently being discussed - is the issue related to the International Atomic Energy Agency's investigation into the previous finding of traces of materials at sites that Tehran did not declare that it had previously witnessed nuclear activities.
The official Iranian news agency "IRNA" quoted an Iranian source as saying that the issue of the undeclared sites "is of a political nature, and should not be used as a pretext against Iran in the future."
And the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report in late May that Iran had not provided adequate explanations about finding traces of materials at 3 sites that it did not claim to have witnessed nuclear activities.
The report was followed by a decision of the Agency's Board of Governors submitted by Western countries, criticizing Tehran for its lack of cooperation, which raised increasing tension with Iran, which stopped working with a number of the Agency's surveillance cameras in some of its nuclear facilities.
The Director-General of the Agency, Rafael Grossi, warned - at the time - that the Iranian move could deal a severe blow to efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Progress in the negotiations
For his part, Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian negotiator in the Vienna talks, said that the talks between Tehran and the other six countries are moving in the right direction, explaining that his country fully supports the current draft agreement.
"It seems that we are making progress. So we hope nothing spoils it," the Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna said on Twitter on Sunday after a meeting with European chief negotiator Enrique Mora, without giving further details.
However, there were no signs of a breakthrough at the weekend, after negotiations resumed in Vienna last Thursday, after five months of hiatus.
In late June, Washington and Tehran held indirect talks in the Qatari capital, facilitated by the European Union, and ended without achieving a breakthrough.
In the current round of talks in Vienna, diplomats from the United States, Iran and the other five parties (China, Germany, France, Britain and Russia) are trying to resolve final issues on a deal to lift US sanctions and reimpose restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program.