UN nuclear watchdog says Iran talks failed

Feb 22, 2012, 15:07 GMT

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Vienna (dpa) - The United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday that Iran had refused to cooperate with a visiting mission that sought to clarify suspicions of a covert atomic weapons programme.

'We could not get access, we could not finalize the way forward,' Herman Nackaerts, the International Atomic Energy Agency's chief inspector, said in Vienna upon his team's return from Tehran, the second such mission by the Vienna-based agency since late January .

The IAEA officials were again denied access to the Parchin military site near Tehran, where the agency believes a simulated nuclear warhead explosion allegedly took place.

'It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin during the first or second meetings,' said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.

The IAEA team also failed to agree with Iranian officials on a third visit.

The trip came at a time of heightened tension between Iran and Western powers, who believe the Islamic republic is secretly developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has threatened to retaliate against any military attack on its nuclear sites by Israel or United States and has shrugged off Western economic sanctions as ineffective.

Iran on Monday began a four-day military exercise that simulates attacks on its nuclear sites. Both Israel of the United States have said that all options, including military strikes, remain on the table in the nuclear stand-off with Iran.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, are debating whether to take up an offer by Iran to renew nuclear talks that collapsed last year.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called on the Islamic Republic to leave its 'irresponsible course.'

Russia reacted more cautiously to the failed IAEA visit.

'It will be difficult for us to reach any early conclusions,' a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Moscow. 'The Iranian side is showing readiness for a more active dialogue with the IAEA.'

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that 'nothing, and no hurdle, can stop Iran's nuclear work and it should be continued decisively and seriously, and regardless of Western ballyhoos.'

He again denied that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapon.

Since 2008, Iran has refused to cooperate with the IAEA, which is seeking to clear suspicions about Tehran's uranium enrichment activities. The IAEA said in a report last year that Iran had worked on developing and testing components for a nuclear weapon. The report was mainly based on Western intelligence findings.

Iranian leaders said the Western intelligence reports were fabricated.

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