SNSC: Iran-IAEA Nucler Energy Talks To Be Pursued Thursday

Tehran, Jan 17, IRNA – Secretariat Office of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) announced here Wednesday talks with International Atomic Energy Agency delegation would continue of Thursday. The said secretariat announced that the IAEA delegation that had arrived in Tehran on Tuesday night held a number of rounds of talks with the Iranian delegation of Wednesday. According to IRNA, the head of the IAEA delegation and Deputy Secretary General of the Agency Herman Nackaerts has announced that the objective of holding the 8th round of Iran-Agency talks on Wednesday we reaching agreement over e new modality to solve the Iranian nuclear issue. The 7th round of talks between the Isalmic Repulic of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were held in Tehran last month and both sides evaluated them as good and progressive. Iran considers the 2007 modality a good modle for devising a new modality. Based on that modality, or work plan, also known as the INFCIRC/711 document, six remaining issues at the time, namely the plutonium tests, the P1 and P2 centrifuges, the source of pollution, the metallic uranium document, the plutonium 110 issue, and the Gachin Mine, were all solved in 2008 and the former IAEA secretary general reported the matter to the Agency's Board of Governors. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has expressed hope Wednesday morning that the new round of talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency would produce positive results. “The meetings have been constructive so far, and we hope this meeting will also be constructive,” Mehmanparast said during his regular press briefing in Tehran on Tuesday. “We have always been ready for constructive negotiations, and we hope that the talks will produce positive results,” the spokesman stated. The most recent meeting between the agency and Iran was held in Tehran on December 13, 2012. The IAEA has called on Iran to sign and implement a structured approach document to resolve the outstanding issues and has stated that gaining access to the Parchin military site, which is located southeast of Tehran, is a priority for the UN nuclear watchdog. The IAEA has claimed that Iran might have been trying to sanitize the Parchin site of any incriminating evidence of explosive tests that would indicate efforts to design nuclear weapons. However, Iran has dismissed the claim, calling it “baseless”. Tehran rejected requests by IAEA delegations to inspect the Parchin site during their visits to Iran from January 29 to 31 and February 21 to 22 and has made it clear that access to the site would not be possible before an agreement is reached on the structured approach document./end