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Iran, IAEA choose February for next round of talks

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 17, IRNA -- Iran and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreed to meet again in February.

Two days of talks between the UN atomic agency and Iran ended in Tehran Thursday night.

The International Atomic Energy Agency team headed by IAEA Chief Inspector Herman Nackaerts and Iranian nuclear experts headed by Iran's envoy to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh started 7th round of negotiations on Wednesday morning.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has expressed hope that a new round of talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency would produce positive results.

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 to the 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.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of IAEA's questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80503945