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TEHRAN: Iran and the UN atomic watchdog were to
resume talks on Monday over controversial Iranian nuclear
activities, a day after the agency’s chief said there was still no
evidence Tehran is seeking nuclear arms.
The technical talks are being
held as part of an agreement between the two sides which Tehran
hopes will prevent further UN Security Council resolutions but which
has been criticized by the United States for not going far enough.
Deputy director general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Olli Heinonen arrived in
Tehran earlier on Monday for the three days of discussions with
Iranian nuclear officials, state media reported.
Heinonen will be discussing
Iran’s use of uranium-enriching P1 centrifuges and its research
into the more sophisticated P2 versions as part of the agreement.
“So far we have done many
things but there remains a lot of other work that hopefully will be
done,” Heinonen said after arriving, according to state-run news
agency IRNA.
The talks are part of a deal
Heinonen clinched in August for Iran to answer outstanding questions
over its atomic program so the agency can conclude a four-year
investigation into its nature.
Based on the result of these
talks, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to submit a report on the
status of the Iranian uranium enrichment program by the end of
November.
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head
of Iran’s atomic energy organization, pledged to cooperate with
the UN nuclear watchdog to clear up any remaining issues before the
report comes out.
“It is possible that the agency
raises new questions and points, before ElBaradei’s report, under
the framework of the same (previous) questions,” said Saeedi, who
greeted Heinonen at Tehran airport.
“In this case, we will provide
the necessary answers.”
Saeedi said that the talks on P1
and P2 centrifuges, through “explicit and open discussions,”
were close to reaching a final conclusion.
The centrifuge talks focus on the
key sticking point between Iran and the West — Iran’s right to
uranium enrichment, a process that makes nuclear fuel but can also
be developed to create the core of an atomic bomb.
Iran’s leaders have repeatedly
said they will never suspend enrichment, in flagrant defiance of
repeated UN Security Council resolutions calling on Tehran to
suspend the process.
But ElBaradei, who has repeatedly
defended the accord in the face of US criticism, said on Sunday
there was still no evidence to back the US claims Tehran was seeking
a nuclear bomb.
“I have not received any
information that there is a concrete active nuclear weapons program
going on right now,” he told CNN.
He also accused US leaders of
adding “fuel to the fire” with recent statements that led to
mounting expectations Washington was planning military action
against Tehran.
The White House has recently
ramped up its rhetoric against Iran, warning the world about
“nuclear holocaust” and “World War III” if Tehran gets
atomic weapons.
It has also gone further than
mere words.
Washington on Thursday announced
a new set of unilateral sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards,
accused of spreading weapons of mass destruction, and its elite Quds
Force, which was designated as a supporter of terrorism.
Washington accuses Tehran of
seeking nuclear weapons and has never ruled out the option of
military action to end its defiance. Iran, however, insists it wants
only to generate electricity for a growing population.
 --AFP
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