Tehran - Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog on
Monday are to resume their talks on Tehran's nuclear programmes,
state media reported.
The chief inspector and deputy head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), Olli Heinonen, arrived in Tehran Monday to
follow up on last week's negotiations with the head of the Iranian
Atomic Organization, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, the ISNA news agency
reported.
Tehran termed the two-day talks last week as 'constructive' but
refrained from saying whether they also opened up perspectives for a
breakthrough in the nuclear dispute.
There also remain outstanding issues related to Iran's past
nuclear activities that the United Nations wants clarified before
next month's report by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to the agency's
board of governors in Vienna.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad considers the dispute over
Tehran's nuclear projects as finished and has demanded that the
Iranian nuclear dossier be returned from the United Nations Security
Council to the IAEA in Vienna.
Tehran has said its nuclear programme is designed for peaceful
purposes, but the United States and other Western nations want
further guarantees that the Islamic state is not pursuing a secret
weapons programme.
A package of incentives drawn up by the five permanent members of
the UN Security Council plus Germany requires Iran to suspend
enrichment in return for political and economic benefits.
Iran has ruled out the possibility of accepting Western demands
that it bring its enrichment programme to a halt.
Again irritating the West, Iran launched a rocket into orbit over
the weekend which, according to Tehran, carried a dummy satellite.
Analysts said the technology could also be used for military purposes.
Iran termed the launch as a successful test for implementing its
plan to carry four telecommunications satellites into orbit within
the next two years.
Tehran said it would also help other Islamic states to launch
satellites.
The Iran-IAEA talks are chiefly technical and do not deal with
political issues, such as whether Iran would suspend uranium
enrichment in return for political and economic incentives.
The United Nations has already imposed three sets of sanctions
aimed at forcing Tehran to give up uranium enrichment.
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