Negotiation between Araqchi and Rouhani with Schmid in Vienna

Two members of Iran's nuclear negotiation team met on Sunday, December 6, with Helga Schmid, Deputy Coordinator for Foreign Policy of the European Union, to discuss the draft resolution of the 5+1 group regarding the closure of Iran's case at the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors. According to the state news agency IRNA, a joint commission meeting between Iran and the 5+1 group is scheduled to take place in Vienna on Tuesday, with the participation of deputy foreign ministers from seven countries. The draft resolution proposed by the 5+1 countries, aimed at resolving potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program or "PMD", will be the main topic of this meeting. Meanwhile, Abbas Araqchi stated that a "significant part" of his and Majid Takht-Ravanchi's meeting with Helga Schmid focused on reviewing the draft resolution. According to Araqchi, another part of this session reviewed the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement and "decisions were made to ensure everything moves towards the implementation of the JCPOA." On Saturday, Hamid Baidi-Nejad, head of the expert team of Iran's nuclear negotiation team, reported that "intensive negotiations" among experts in Vienna to draft the 5+1 resolution began on Thursday. Baidi-Nejad stated on Sunday, "The Board of Governors will confirm the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities, and from that day, the normalization process of Iran's nuclear issue will begin." Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA, in his report on the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, stated that the Islamic Republic had attempted to develop a nuclear explosive device at least until the end of 2003, but these activities did not go beyond feasibility studies and scientific research. The IAEA also confirmed that it had not found credible indications of activities related to the development of nuclear weapons in Iran since 2009. Members of Iran's nuclear negotiation team expressed satisfaction with this report and hoped that Iran's case at the IAEA Board of Governors would be closed. The United States announced its readiness to close Iran's case at the IAEA Board of Governors shortly after the report was published. However, Roman Nadal, spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry, stated last week that the agency must clarify the background of Iran's activities and provide detailed answers to all ambiguities in this regard. If one of the Board members, including France, expresses dissatisfaction with the agency's report on Iran, the commencement of the implementation of the final nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, reached in July, may face serious delays. The IAEA Board of Governors has repeatedly expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program in its resolutions, the first of which was issued on September 12, 2003.