News - Middle East: Head of the UN nuclear watchdog says progress has been made in the implementation of a joint statement with Iran aimed at expediting the resolution of outstanding safeguards issues.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi said despite the progress, "sustained and uninterrupted process" is still required.
He made the remarks in his introductory statement to the Board of Governors in Vienna on Monday as he outlined his latest report on Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015).
"In that report you will see that the process of implementation of the Joint Statement has started and some progress has been made, but not as much as I had hoped," he said.
At the end of Grossi's two-day visit to Tehran in March, Iran and the IAEA issued a joint statement in which both sides recognized that bilateral positive engagements can pave the way for wider agreements among state parties.