Iran: IAEA head to visit Tehran next week
State news agency reports that nuclear watchdog head Yukiya Amano will be in the Islamic Republic for next round of talks
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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s state media said the head of the UN nuclear agency will visit Tehran next week in another possible sign of progress in talks over the country’s nuclear program.
Tuesday’s report by the official IRNA news agency quoted Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, as saying that Yukiya Amano will visit Tehran on November 12.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency could not immediately confirm or deny the report.
IAEA experts are looking to investigate suspicions that Iran for years worked secretly on developing a nuclear weapons program.
Last week in Vienna, Iranian and IAEA envoys discussed Tehran’s proposals to ease Western concerns that Iran could eventually produce nuclear weapons.
On Friday, Amano said Iran’s new leadership has shown a willingness to cooperate regarding concerns about its controversial nuclear program, regardless of talks with the P5+1 world powers (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) which are set to resume on Thursday in Geneva.
“I can tell you that after the coming of [Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani, we have had a number of contacts with them… but we haven’t heard this linkage [between the two sets of talks],” Amano said at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington on Friday
When asked whether the reported Iranian willingness marked a change, Amano said, according to AFP: “I think so. There is some substance in the new proposal by Iran.”
Details of Iran’s offers have not been made public, but could be further examined during talks on Thursday between Iran and the world powers.
Iran says it only seeks reactors for energy and medical applications.
The Times of Israel Community.