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Diplomats: No real progress in 'constructive' Iran-IAEA talks

By REUTERS

OCTOBER 2, 2013 12:26

VIENNA - The UN atomic watchdog and Iran appeared to make little real headway in talks last week and it is uncertain whether Tehran's more positive attitude will help yield a long-sought breakthrough, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency in Friday's meeting it wanted to achieve substantive results within months in the talks on a stalled IAEA inquiry into suspected atomic bomb research by the Islamic state, one envoy said.

But he and others briefed on the closed-door discussions stressed that hopes had been raised before in Iran-IAEA meetings since early 2012, only to be dashed by what Western states saw as Iranian stonewalling. Iran denies any nuclear weapon aims.

The first talks between Iran and the IAEA since Hassan Rouhani took office as Iranian president were watched in the West for any sign of a shift by Tehran from the defiance of his hardline predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The election in June of Rouhani, a relative moderate who has pledged to try to end the decade-old nuclear dispute with the West, has fuelled hopes of a peaceful resolution to a protracted row that could otherwise flare into a new Middle East war.

One Western diplomat said he had the impression that Iran and the IAEA were relatively "optimistic" after the meeting in Vienna, where the UN agency is based. Another envoy said the discussions had been focused and the atmosphere positive.

Both sides, including the new head of Iran's delegation, described their discussions as "constructive" and said the next meeting would be held on Oct. 28 but gave no detail.

The IAEA talks are distinct from Iran's meetings with world powers, but both diplomatic tracks center on suspicions that Iran may be seeking the capability to assemble nuclear bombs behind the facade of a civilian atomic energy program.

Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful bid to generate electricity, and not aimed at building weapons. But its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear work and lack of full openness with the IAEA has drawn increasingly harsh Western sanctions.

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