Reuters: Iran said on Thursday its latest round of talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog to resolve outstanding issues about its disputed atomic work were a positive step, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Thursday its latest round of talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog to resolve outstanding issues about its disputed atomic work were a positive step, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Experts from the two sides started three days of talks on Monday under a deal reached in August between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran to remove concerns about the country’s nuclear work, which the West says is a cover to build bombs. Iran says it seeks only nuclear power.
“Talks were held in a completely constructive atmosphere and this is another positive step by Iran … to resolve the remaining issues,” Mehr quoted Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, as saying.
Soltanieh said the result of talks would be announced by the IAEA after “it finishes all the necessary evaluations.”
Under the pact, Iran is to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear activities one by one.
The latest round of talks focused on questions about particles of arms-grade enriched uranium found by IAEA inspectors at Tehran’s Technical University.
“At these meetings, answers to the Agency’s technical questions regarding the issue of the source of contamination were given,” Soltanieh told the official IRNA news agency.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed two rounds of limited sanctions on Iran since last December over Tehran’s failure to heed a U.N. demand to halt uranium enrichment. The United States and Western allies want further measures.
Enriched uranium can be used both for fuelling power plants and, if desired, for making bombs.
The IAEA said in a report in November Tehran was cooperating but not proactively. IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran was making “good progress” in solving questions about its plans. (Writing by Zahra Hosseinian; editing by Matthew Tostevin)
