Closely-watched Iran, IAEA talks resume

Published
0

Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh speaks to journalists as he arrives for talks with the IAEA. — Photo AP

VIENNA: Closely-watched talks between Iran and the UN nuclear agency went into their scheduled final day on Tuesday, with Tehran's envoy quoted as saying that so far the meeting had been “good.”

The official news agency IRNA quoted Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh as saying as he went into the negotiations in Vienna that the first day had been “good” and “constructive.”

On Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency chief inspector Hermann Nackaerts had said he wanted to press Iran in the talks here for “access to people, documents, information and sites” in its contested nuclear programme.

In particular Nackaerts wants Iran to address claims made in an extensive IAEA report in November that at least until 2003, and possibly since, there were activities which could only conceivably be aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.

He also wants access to the Parchin military base near Tehran where the IAEA report said Iran had conducted explosives tests in a metal container.

In two visits to Tehran in January and February, branded a “failure” by Washington, the IAEA said Iran denied Nackaerts access to Parchin and dismissed out of hand the claims made in the report as based on forgeries.

Western countries accuse Iran of removing evidence at Parchin. Soltanieh said in March that any allegations of “sanitization” of the site were “a childish (and) ridiculous story.”Iran and the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany — held their first talks in 15 months in Istanbul in mid-April, and agreed to more in-depth discussions in Baghdad on May 23.

It was unclear what time the meeting in Vienna would end.

Opinion

Editorial

Debt that stays
30 Jul, 2026

Debt that stays

THE power sector’s circular debt grew by Rs61bn in the last fiscal year, taking the total to roughly Rs1.67tr from...
HIV warning
30 Jul, 2026

HIV warning

THE HIV infections detected around two SESSI-run hospitals in Karachi demand far more than another hurried committee...
End trafficking
30 Jul, 2026

End trafficking

MODERN slavery, in the form of human trafficking, is among the state’s gravest failures. Scores of Pakistanis are...
AJK elections
29 Jul, 2026

AJK elections

CONSIDERING the political unrest that has rocked Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past, free and fair general...
Still vulnerable
29 Jul, 2026

Still vulnerable

THE State Bank’s decision to hold the policy rate at 11.5pc is a prudent response to the heightened risks the...
Guarding the past
29 Jul, 2026

Guarding the past

THE return of 513 smuggled archaeological artefacts from the US is a welcome homecoming for objects that should ...