Iran holds ‘useful’ meeting with UN nuclear agency
IAEA may return to talks after fruitless attempts to investigate claims Tehran was developing atomic weapons
A UN nuclear agency official probing allegations that Iran worked on atomic arms says talks in Tehran were “useful” and the sides have agreed to meet again next month.
Tero Varjoranta says there was agreement to “speed up” the process, but gave no details Tuesday.
The talks were the first in months, possibly indicating movement in more than a decade of repeatedly stalled attempts by the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate the claims.
Iran denies any work on such weapons and says the suspicions are based on phony intelligence from its foes.
The US says the allegations must be cleared up as part of a nuclear deal it and five other countries are negotiating with Iran. But that is unlikely by the June target date for an agreement.
The UN atomic agency’s head Yukiya Amano, said last week that Iran still needed to hand over key information so that investigation of the country’s nuclear program can progress.
“Iran has yet to provide explanations that enable the agency to clarify two outstanding practical measures,” Amano told the IAEA’s Board of Governors in Vienna, according to Reuters.
The two missing pieces of the puzzle relate to alleged explosive tests and other issues related to research that may also be useful for military uses of atomic energy. According to Amano the missing pieces of data should have been addressed by Iran by last August.
“The agency is not in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities,” Amano was quoted by Reuters as saying.