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IAEA chief to meet US senators on Iran

VIENNA, July 31 (KUNA) -- Director General of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) Yukiya Amano will travel to Washington next week to hold talks with members of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Iran's nuclear agreement.
Iran and the six world powers (P5+1) reached the agreement on July 14 in Vienna that limits Tehran's nuclear activities in return for lifting the economic sanctions imposed on the country.
Amano welcomed an invitation letter he received from the Senators early Friday and will meet with them on August 5 to discuss the IAEA's role in verifying and monitoring nuclear-related measures under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, IAEA said in a statement late Friday.
Although UN Security Council approved the agreement, some US senators have some reservations on the deal.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner had earlier said that the agreement will "fuel a nuclear arms race around the world, warning that it would hand Iran billions of dollars worth of sanctions relief while giving it space to develop a nuclear bomb.
Congressman Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the foreign affairs panel, said that the deal does not ask Iran to remove technologies used for making nuclear bombs but allows it to develop a nuclear capability within 10 years.
The IAEA serves as the world's foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Established as an autonomous organization under the United Nations (UN) in 1957, the IAEA carries out programmes to maximize the useful contribution of nuclear technology to society while verifying its peaceful use. (end) amg.hm