UN inspector in Iran for nuclear talks (Roundup)

Aug 18, 2008, 9:14 GMT

Tehran - Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Monday are to resume their talks on Tehran's nuclear programmes, state media reported.

The chief inspector and deputy head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Olli Heinonen, arrived in Tehran Monday to follow up on last week's negotiations with the head of the Iranian Atomic Organization, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, the ISNA news agency reported.

Tehran termed the two-day talks last week as 'constructive' but refrained from saying whether they also opened up perspectives for a breakthrough in the nuclear dispute.

There also remain outstanding issues related to Iran's past nuclear activities that the United Nations wants clarified before next month's report by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to the agency's board of governors in Vienna.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad considers the dispute over Tehran's nuclear projects as finished and has demanded that the Iranian nuclear dossier be returned from the United Nations Security Council to the IAEA in Vienna.

Tehran has said its nuclear programme is designed for peaceful purposes, but the United States and other Western nations want further guarantees that the Islamic state is not pursuing a secret weapons programme.

A package of incentives drawn up by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany requires Iran to suspend enrichment in return for political and economic benefits.

Iran has ruled out the possibility of accepting Western demands that it bring its enrichment programme to a halt.

Again irritating the West, Iran launched a rocket into orbit over the weekend which, according to Tehran, carried a dummy satellite. Analysts said the technology could also be used for military purposes.

Iran termed the launch as a successful test for implementing its plan to carry four telecommunications satellites into orbit within the next two years.

Tehran said it would also help other Islamic states to launch satellites.

The Iran-IAEA talks are chiefly technical and do not deal with political issues, such as whether Iran would suspend uranium enrichment in return for political and economic incentives.

The United Nations has already imposed three sets of sanctions aimed at forcing Tehran to give up uranium enrichment.