Iran has agreed to give International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to two suspected former nuclear sites as part of a deal that has removed “a serious obstacle” to the agency’s nonproliferation work.

The breakthrough in the dispute over the sites – one said to be near Karaj west of Tehran, the other near Isfahan in central Iran – was announced in a joint statement by Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency during IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi’s first visit to the Islamic Republic since he took over the role in December.

“Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA,” Mr Grossi and Iran’s nuclear agency chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in the joint statement.

The statement said dates for IAEA inspectors to visit the sites had been agreed as well as the parameters of “verification activities” there.