IAEA still seeks substantial progress after Iran mission

Feb 1, 2012, 18:03 GMT

Vienna - A senior team of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) returned to Vienna Wednesday from Iran, apparently without having agreed to a roadmap on verifying allegations about nuclear projects there.

'It remains essential to make progress on substantive issues,' IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said.

The IAEA delegation had been on the three-day visit with the aim of working out an agreement with Iran on how to verify extensive intelligence information that points to nuclear weapons development projects.

A second meeting has been scheduled in Tehran for February 21 and 22 - only days before the next IAEA report on Iran is to be issued.

Upon returning to Vienna, the agency's chief inspector Herman Nackaerts said Iran had said it was committed to resolving outstanding issues.

But he added: 'Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done, and so we have planned another trip in the very near future.'

It was the first time since August 2008 that Iran had engaged with the Vienna-based IAEA on the nuclear weapons allegations.

Tehran says the intelligence information received by the nuclear agency was fabricated.

During this week's talks, the IAEA officials discussed with Iranian counterparts steps for Iran to clarify the allegations, the Vienna-based agency said.

Nackaerts and his team were reported to have met Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saedi Jalili and atomic chief Fereydoun Abbasi.

While Iranian officials were quoted by local media as saying that the talks 'were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere,' Nackaerts described them as 'intensive.'

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Iran's authorities to prove their claim that their nuclear program is genuinely for peaceful purposes.

'I think they have not yet convinced the international community,' he said during a visit to Israel, adding that dialogue was the only solution to the nuclear stand-off.

The IAEA's assessment of its mission is expected to clarify whether the nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers - Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the United States - can resume.

Jalili will reportedly send EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who leads the nuclear talks, a letter offering a date and venue for a next round of talks.

Iran has said it is ready to resume the talks, but the six powers are demanding a clear agenda and want Iran to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment until it can prove that it is not developing a nuclear bomb.

Those conditions have been rejected by Iran.

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