IAEA chief hopes concrete results in talks with Iran

Vienna – The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano said Sunday that he hoped for “concrete results” in his meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran on the country’s controversial nuclear programme.

He hoped that “the coming meeting will produce concrete results” to resolve all the outstanding issues, reported Xinhua citing Amano at Vienna airport before leaving for Tehran.

He also expressed hope that the agency and Iran would build on the new proposal of practical measures Iran had presented in the last round of talks between the two sides in Vienna, which they said had been “very productive”.

His remarks came after the three-day talks between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – plus Germany, and Iran failed to reach an agreement Saturday in Geneva.

IAEA and Iran have held 12 rounds of meetings since the agency reported nuclear bomb trigger tests might be carried out in Parchin military site in 2011, which Iran denies, saying the information IAEA got was forged and provided by Western spy agencies.

IAEA has demanded from Iran to open access to the site. But Iran has refused, as the inspection of the site is already beyond the Safeguard Agreement.

Western countries have long been accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear programme. But Iran says the suspicion is baseless and fabricated, noting its nuclear programme is for peaceful purpose only.