{"id":44792,"date":"2021-03-04T19:26:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T19:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44792"},"modified":"2021-03-04T19:26:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T19:26:37","slug":"sudan-to-start-vaccine-rollout-next-week-after-getting-covax-doses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44792","title":{"rendered":"Sudan to start vaccine rollout next week after getting COVAX doses"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"150\">\n<p>\nVIENNA: Iran has accepted holding a series of meetings with the UN nuclear watchdog in order to \u201cclarify a number of outstanding issues,\u201d the body\u2019s Director General Rafael Grossi said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe are going to be starting this process&#8230; with a technical meeting which will take place in Iran at the beginning of April, which I hope will be followed by other technical or political meetings,\u201d Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters at a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe new process will be aimed at clarifying queries the IAEA has raised about the possible previous presence of nuclear material at undeclared sites.<\/p>\n<p>\nMeanwhile, The European nations will not go ahead with a planned resolution criticising Iran at this week\u2019s meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, diplomatic sources said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\nFrance, Britain and Germany had planned to introduce a resolution at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency\u2019s board of governors, with the support of the United States, criticising Iran\u2019s suspension of some IAEA inspections.<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, diplomats said the resolution, which had not yet been formally submitted, will now not be put forward.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe decision to hold off was taken \u201cto give time to diplomacy,\u201d one diplomatic source said, pointing to \u201cinitiatives undertaken by (IAEA Director General Rafael) Grossi\u201d and signs of \u201cgood faith\u201d on the Iranian side.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe latest moves come at a delicate moment for diplomacy on the Iranian nuclear issue, with fragile efforts underway to revive the ailing 2015 deal between Iran and world powers on its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharib Abadi, tweeted on Thursday that \u201cdue to extensive diplomatic consultations\u201d at the IAEA, \u201ca glimpse of hope is looming to prevent unnecessary tension.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWisdom prevails,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe US told IAEA that Iran has been given a chance to address the concerns on uranium particles found at undeclared, old sites and Washington will watch closely.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIran has now been given another opportunity by the Director General to offer up the necessary cooperation before this Board next meets,\u201d the US statement to the board said, shortly after diplomats said plans for a resolution criticizing Iran had been scrapped.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe United States, like all Board members, will calibrate our views on the Board\u2019s next steps according to whether Iran seizes the opportunity now before it to finally and credibly address the IAEA&#8217;s concerns,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>\nUS President Joe Biden has said he is willing to bring the United States back to the landmark 2015 deal, known as the JCPOA.<\/p>\n<p>\nIt has been unravelling since Biden\u2019s predecessor Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\nEarlier this week, a report in the Iranian Vatan-e-Emrouz newspaper said Tehran had \u201ctemporarily suspended the production of uranium metal on the order of the President (Hassan Rouhani).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nThe government in Tehran has not disputed the accuracy of the report.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe production of uranium metal goes against a 15-year ban in the JCPOA on \u201cproducing or acquiring plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, Iran says it has the right to breach this and a series of other constraints on its nuclear activities laid down in the deal in retaliation for the US withdrawal from the accord and subsequent imposition of sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>\nIran says the uranium metal production is part of its plans to provide advanced fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>\nBut the topic is sensitive because uranium metal can be used as a component in nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n<p>\nLate last month Iran suspended some IAEA inspections as US sanctions had not yet been lifted, described by Grossi as a \u201chuge loss\u201d for the agency.<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, after two days of talks with Iranian officials in Tehran, a three-month arrangement was agreed under which Iran pledged to keep recordings \u201cof some activities and monitoring equipment\u201d and hand them over to the IAEA as and when US sanctions are lifted.<\/p>\n<p>\nIran had threatened to suspend that arrangement in the event of a critical resolution at the IAEA.<\/p>\n<p>\nEuropean states and the US criticised Iran\u2019s suspension of inspections in their statements to the IAEA&#8217;s board this week.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cHow does ending such monitoring serve Iran\u2019s goal of re-establishing confidence in its nuclear programmes and intentions?\u201d asked US Charge d&#8217;Affaires Louis L Bono.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThese steps are counterproductive, and Iran should reverse them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VIENNA: Iran has accepted holding a series of meetings with the UN nuclear watchdog in order to \u201cclarify a number of outstanding issues,\u201d the body\u2019s Director General Rafael Grossi said Thursday. \u201cWe are going to be starting this process&#8230; with a technical meeting which will take place in Iran at the beginning of April, which&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}