IAEA, Iran, upbeat about Nuclear Program talks

Positive response to IAEA-Iran talks
by Al-Akhbar – 1 February 1, 2012 –

Both Iran and the UN’s atomic watchdog gave a positive response to talks held in the Islamic republic aimed at clarifying Tehran’s nuclear program, and defusing tension with the West.

Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited Tehran on Saturday for talks with Iranian officials to try to advance efforts to resolve the nuclear row.

“We are committed to resolving all the outstanding issues and the Iranians certainly are committed too. But of course there is still a lot of work to be done and so we have planned another trip in the very near future,” Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters after returning from Tehran.

Asked if he was satisfied with the talks, Nackaerts, who headed the six-member IAEA mission, said “Yeah, we had a good trip.”

He described the three days of talks as “intensive discussions,” but did not elaborate on the details of the talks.

Iran earlier described the talks as “constructive” and said further meetings were planned.

“Talks between Iran and the visiting team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency were constructive and … the two sides agreed to continue the talks,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying on Tuesday.

The Fars report said the date of future talks between Iran and IAEA had been set, but did not give details.

An explosive IAEA report released in November just fell short of explicitly accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons.

Iran slammed the report as “lousy intelligence,” but the findings gave the West ammunition to up its pressure against Tehran.

Since the report’s release, the United States and European Union have imposed their most severe sanctions on Iran yet, targeting its oil industry – the second largest OPEC exporter. …more