South Africa has praised Iran for its cooperation with the IAEA in resolving the outstanding issues relating to its nuclear program.

"Iran now has the opportunity to reassure the international community that all aspects of its past, present and future nuclear program are entirely peaceful," South Africa's representative to the IAEA Board of Governors, Abdul Samad Minty told reporters.

South Africa has welcomed the recent understanding reached between Iran and the IAEA on a modality plan for resolving the outstanding issues, Minty added.

He said progress had been made to resolve particularly the issue of the plutonium separation experiments and the design information verification undertaken at the IR-40 reactor.

"South Africa encourages all parties to refrain from any actions that would hinder the implementation of the deal reached between the agency and Iran," he concluded.

BGA/GM/RE