Draft of agreement with Iran is almost ready: Russia envoy

Mikhail Ulyanov made the remarks in an interview with Al-Jazeera on Thursday afternoon where he said while the draft agreement is almost ready, the United States and the European states do not want to return to Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA.

"The draft of the agreement is almost ready, but it is the United States and European countries that prevent the return to the nuclear agreement with Iran," he noted.

The Russian diplomat said that the recent visit of the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to Tehran was a positive development that opened the way for resolving some outstanding issues.

Earlier this week, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi visited Iran and held meetings with head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami, President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to discuss the country’s peaceful nuclear program.

At the end of the visit, Grossi and Eslami issued a joint statement in which the two sides agreed to take steps aimed at facilitating enhanced cooperation and expediting the resolution of outstanding safeguards issues.

After the visit, Grossi apparently walked back on his remarks about reaching a good agreement with Iran on the settlement of outstanding issues.

Moreover, Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohsen Naziri Asl says Tehran is willing to cooperate with the agency despite an authoritarian approach by the Western countries.