UN report on Iran deal compliance likely Saturday: sources

The UN atomic watchdog will likely confirm on Saturday morning that Iran has complied with the terms of last July's landmark deal, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

The eagerly-awaited report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which Iran had said could be released on Friday, will clear the way for the lifting of painful sanctions on Tehran.

It will say that Iran has scaled down key areas of its nuclear activities in line with the July 14 agreement, which aimed to render impossible any dash to build nuclear weapons. -

The measures include Iran slashing by two-thirds its number of uranium enrichment centrifuges, removing the core of its Arak reactor and sharply reducing its stock of uranium.

The hard-fought agreement was sealed in Vienna after two years of rollercoaster negotiations that began in earnest after the June 2013 election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran's president.

Photo: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano addresses a news conference. (Reuters)