VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has met a deadline to give the U.N. nuclear watchdog what it needs to assess whether Tehran's past activities had anything to do with nuclear weapons, the agency said on Thursday, a step towards implementing a deal between Tehran and world powers.
The deal struck in July calls for the lifting of sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities.
Under a roadmap agreement reached along with that deal, Iran had to provide by Thursday the cooperation necessary for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to complete an assessment of Iran's activities by Dec. 15.
"In the period to 15 October 2015, activities set out in the 'road-map for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program' were completed," the IAEA said in a statement.
It added that the agency would provide its assessment by Dec. 15, as expected. A spokesman for the IAEA declined to elaborate on Thursday's statement.
The IAEA said last month it had sent Iran questions on "ambiguities" in its submissions to the agency. Cooperation with a view to resolving those questions is a central part of what Iran had to supply by Thursday.
The investigation is now due to move into a phase in which the agency assesses the materials provided by Iran, including environmental samples at the Parchin military site, which IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano visited last month.
One of the questions being investigated by the IAEA is whether Iran carried out high-explosives testing at Parchin that could be used to make a nuclear warhead. Last month's visit was the IAEA's first access to Parchin in a decade.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
