IAEA chief welcomes Iran-US deal, says technical work now starts

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said it was good that the memorandum was in place and that the technical work could now begin. (EPA Images pic)

GENEVA: The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday welcomed the interim peace deal signed by Washington and Iran, saying it would now be involved in technical discussions to implement the agreement.

“It is good that the memorandum is there. Now the technical work starts,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters in Geneva.

“Now it is for us to sit down with our American and Iranian colleagues and start formulating concrete steps that will have to be taken.”

The 14-point agreement signed on Wednesday evening extends a ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days, including in Lebanon, to allow the two sides to negotiate a final truce.

Both Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have digitally signed the memorandum in English and Farsi, US and Iran ​officials said, with Iran’s foreign ministry saying the agreement was already in effect as of Wednesday.

The United States and Israel launched the war on Iran ⁠on Feb 28. It quickly became a regional conflict that has killed more than 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, driven up energy prices, renewed inflationary pressures and caused concerns about a food supply crisis in developing countries.