IAEA chief: Iran ‘going around in circles’ in nuclear talks

The chief of the UN nuclear agency on Monday urged Iran to cooperate with a probe of his agency, in unusually frank language showing exasperation with the stalled investigation.

Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency said negotiations with Iran to restart the probe “have been going around in circles.” He says he is addressing his appeal “with a sense of urgency.”

“Despite the intensified dialogue between the agency and Iran since January 2012…, no agreement has been reached on the structured approach document. To be frank, for some time now we have been going around in circles,” said Amano.

“Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable us to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities,” Amano said.

“This is not the right way to address issues of such great importance to the international community, including Iran,” he said, according to a copy of his speech published by Reuters.

Amano spoke Monday at the start of a 35-nation board meeting of his International Atomic Energy Agency. His comments were focused on Parchin, a site southeast of Tehran where the IAEA suspects Iran worked on nuclear arms.

The IAEA has tried vainly to get access to Parchin since early 2011.

Iran says it never worked on nuclear arms. It insists all of its nuclear activities are peaceful.