Top IAEA official in Iran for nuclear talks
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
A TOP UN atomic official was holding talks in Tehran yesterday aimed at easing concerns over Iran's contested nuclear programme, amid warnings of further sanctions against the Islamic republic.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation led by deputy director general Olli Heinonen and Iran's national security council deputy head Javad Vaeedi met in the afternoon, Iranian media reported.
The two days of talks are aimed at agreeing a plan that would foresee easier inspections of Iranian nuclear plants by IAEA inspectors and Iran giving information about aspects of its atomic drive that have concerned the agency.
Vaeedi and Heinonen, who is in charge of inspections at the IAEA, have already held two previous rounds of talks in Tehran and Vienna, but this week's session is billed as the final discussions.
"This round of talks will be the final round of talks to set a framework to solve the remaining issues," said the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Saeedi.
"We hope that during the two days of talks the remaining issues will be defined and we can immediately enter into talks on them," he said, according to state broadcasting.
"Of course this path is a time-consuming one. Both sides will try to find logical and accurate paths to finalise it."
The IAEA has been conducting an investigation into the Iranian nuclear programme for more than four years, but is still unable to make any firm conclusion over its nature.
The United States accuses Iran — Opec's number two oil producer and owner of the second largest proven gas reserves in the world — of seeking to make nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian energy drive.
Iran, however, insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and its growing population needs electricity from atomic energy, especially when the fossil fuels start to run dry.
The biggest success in the previous two rounds of talks was an agreement for IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water reactor on July 30 for the first time in several weeks.
Saeedi hailed "very good progress" in the previous rounds of talks.
Iran has said it hopes the ongoing discussions with IAEA officials over improving cooperation will mean that Western powers drop threats to impose a third set of sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme.
AFP
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation led by deputy director general Olli Heinonen and Iran's national security council deputy head Javad Vaeedi met in the afternoon, Iranian media reported.
The two days of talks are aimed at agreeing a plan that would foresee easier inspections of Iranian nuclear plants by IAEA inspectors and Iran giving information about aspects of its atomic drive that have concerned the agency.
Vaeedi and Heinonen, who is in charge of inspections at the IAEA, have already held two previous rounds of talks in Tehran and Vienna, but this week's session is billed as the final discussions.
"This round of talks will be the final round of talks to set a framework to solve the remaining issues," said the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Saeedi.
"We hope that during the two days of talks the remaining issues will be defined and we can immediately enter into talks on them," he said, according to state broadcasting.
"Of course this path is a time-consuming one. Both sides will try to find logical and accurate paths to finalise it."
The IAEA has been conducting an investigation into the Iranian nuclear programme for more than four years, but is still unable to make any firm conclusion over its nature.
The United States accuses Iran — Opec's number two oil producer and owner of the second largest proven gas reserves in the world — of seeking to make nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian energy drive.
Iran, however, insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and its growing population needs electricity from atomic energy, especially when the fossil fuels start to run dry.
The biggest success in the previous two rounds of talks was an agreement for IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water reactor on July 30 for the first time in several weeks.
Saeedi hailed "very good progress" in the previous rounds of talks.
Iran has said it hopes the ongoing discussions with IAEA officials over improving cooperation will mean that Western powers drop threats to impose a third set of sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme.
AFP
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