New modality can be devised during Amano visit, Iran says

TEHRAN, May 20 (MNA) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that he hopes an agreement will be reached to devise a new modality between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency during a visit by the agency’s director general to the country. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano will leave Vienna for Tehran on Sunday for a one-day visit and is scheduled to hold talks with a number of Iranian officials, including Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, who is Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, on Monday. IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards Herman Nackaerts and Assistant Director General Rafael Grossi will be accompanying Amano during his first trip to Iran since he assumed the post on December 1, 2009. According to an IAEA statement issued on Friday, Amano will “discuss issues of mutual interest with high Iranian officials” during his visit to Tehran. Representatives of Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog met in Vienna on May 14 and 15 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. The two sides described the talks as promising and agreed to meet again in Vienna on May 21. Salehi said, “The agency’s director general had expressed readiness to make a trip to Iran.” “Iran had previously invited IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano to make a trip to Iran, but he decided to travel to Tehran and hold talks with our country’s officials before the Baghdad talks,” he added. “We regard the visit by the agency’s director general as a gesture of goodwill,” Salehi stated, adding, “The focus will be on the issue of modality and a new working modality to help clear up the ambiguities and (answer) the agency’s questions. And we hope that an agreement will be reached between both sides to devise a new modality.” The Iranian foreign minister also said that the IAEA delegation will not be carrying out inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities and they will only be holding talks in Tehran. The Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said on Friday that Amano will hold negotiations on “issues of mutual interest and closer cooperation” between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog. On the same day, AFP quoted a number of diplomats, who had spoken on condition of anonymity, as saying that Amano’s decision to travel to Iran had raised hopes of a breakthrough. A Vienna-based diplomat stated that the surprise announcement was a “hopeful” sign. Another diplomat said that it is expected the Amano will “conclude the negotiations on the modalities (of cooperation) and… have it formalized in a document.”