The talks between IAEA delegation and Iranian officials wrapped up with no sign of any breakthrough on tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme. — Photo by Reuters

TEHRAN: Three days of talks between a visiting IAEA delegation and Iranian officials wrapped up late on Tuesday with no sign of any breakthrough on tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme, media reported.

Both sides “agreed on continuing the talks,” the Fars and ISNA news agencies reported, saying a date had been set but not divulging it.

Fars said the talks “were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere.” ISNA said that the six-person International Atomic Energy Agency team “did not visit any of the nuclear centres and facilities in our country during their trip.”

Neither Iranian media nor the UN watchdog’s team itself has revealed the substance of the talks, or which Iranian officials were involved.

The IAEA officials, lead by chief inspector Herman Nackaerts, were expected to return to the agency’s headquarters in Vienna early on Wednesday.

Its visit was seen as a rare opportunity to defuse an international showdown over Iran’s nuclear programme that has been building since the IAEA published a report in November strongly suggesting Tehran had been researching atomic weapons.—AFP