Iran, IAEA make progress in talks

TEHRAN,Dec.15(MNA) – The deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Herman Nackaerts, said that progress has been made in Thursday’s talks in Tehran between Iran and the IAEA, according to Reuters. After returning from Tehran on Friday, the IAEA team leader said, “We had good meetings. We were able to make progress.” Nackaerts also said that talks between Iran and the UN nuclear agency are expected to lead to a deal next month on resuming an investigation into Tehran’s nuclear program. “We expect to finalize the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that,” he said, referring to a framework agreement that would allow the IAEA to restart its investigation into Iran’s nuclear program. The IAEA - which said before the trip it hoped to go to the Parchin military site - was unable to go there this time but it would be part of the “structured approach” accord, Nackaerts said. The Iranian ambassador to the IAEA has also described as “positive” and “constructive” the talks between Iran and the IAEA. “The talks were constructive, and we achieved positive results,” Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Al-Alam News Network in an interview published on Friday. He also said that Iran and the IAEA will meet again on January 16. 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 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. 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. The IAEA’s meetings with Iran are separate from negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) over the country’s nuclear program. According to Reuters, senior European Union and Iranian diplomats on Wednesday discussed the timing of possible new talks between Iran and the six major powers.