Asia

Asia

Iran confirms imminent visit of IAEA chief to Tehran

18 May 2012 22:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali-Asghar Soltanieh confirmed on Friday the reports that IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano will visit Iran on Sunday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Soltanieh told Mehr that Amano is visiting Tehran for talks with Iranian officials on "issues of mutual interest and a closer cooperation" between Iran and the IAEA.

Earlier on Friday, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a brief statement that Amano will visit Tehran for nuclear talks with Iranian officials.

Amano will start the trip on Sunday to discuss issues of mutual interest with high-level Iranian officials, the IAEA said in the statement.

During his one-day working visit, Amano will meet the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, and other senior representatives of the Iranian government, the statement said.

Herman Nackaerts, the IAEA Deputy Director General for Safeguards, and Rafael Mariano Grossi, Assistant Director General for Policy, will accompany Amano on the trip.

Amano’s move come after the IAEA and Iranian representatives this week in Vienna ended their two-day talks meant to clarify issues related to possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.

The talks are aimed at pushing Iran to allow IAEA experts access to sites, people and documents the agency seeks to address concerns that the country might have been working on nuclear weapons.

One priority issue for IAEA in recent talks is the agency’s demand for access to Iran’s Parchin military site southeast of Tehran.

Media said the IAEA has received reports that Iran had tested explosives which could be used to set off a nuclear charge.

Iran denied such reports, and insisted access to Parchin would only be granted if Iran and the IAEA agree on certain conditions and steps.

Though neither side has revealed progress of this week’s talks, analysts believed a positive signal was released as they agreed to continue negotiations.

The IAEA said its previous two rounds of talks in January and February in Tehran failed to achieve concrete results.

However, talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as Germany (P5+1) in Turkey’s Istanbul in April raised new hope of a negotiated settlement of the long-standing Iranian nuclear issue.

The six countries and Iran will hold next round of nuclear talks in Iraqi capital Baghdad on May 23.