IAEA: Iran continues to be uncooperativeWestern diplomats said Iran had continued to stonewall the senior IAEA team during the talks, in which the agency sought answers to intelligence pointing to nuclear weapons research and development in the country."Essentially they had two very long and fruitless meetings," one Western envoy in Vienna said.The Iranian side "systematically just claimed they have no clandestine program and therefore any questions raised (about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program) were either incorrect or invalid", the diplomat added. Iran rejects accusations that its nuclear program is a covert attempt to develop a nuclear weapons capability, saying it is seeking to produce only electricity.But an IAEA report in November suggested Iran had pursued military nuclear technology. This helped to precipitate the latest sanctions by the European Union and United States.One finding was information that Iran had built a large containment chamber at the Parchin military site near Tehran to conduct high-explosives tests. The UN agency said there were "strong indicators of possible weapon development."Asked why Iran had not allowed the UN inspectors to visit Parchin, Soltanieh said: "For any visit and access there should be some sort of modality and agreement."He added: "It was assumed that after we agreed on the modality then access would be given. Since the modality was not concluded due to time constraints ... this was not possible."
Iran calls for further nuclear talks with UN
Western diplomats suspect Iran is merely seeking "talks about talks" in an attempt to ease outside pressure.
IAEA: Iran continues to be uncooperativeWestern diplomats said Iran had continued to stonewall the senior IAEA team during the talks, in which the agency sought answers to intelligence pointing to nuclear weapons research and development in the country."Essentially they had two very long and fruitless meetings," one Western envoy in Vienna said.The Iranian side "systematically just claimed they have no clandestine program and therefore any questions raised (about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program) were either incorrect or invalid", the diplomat added. Iran rejects accusations that its nuclear program is a covert attempt to develop a nuclear weapons capability, saying it is seeking to produce only electricity.But an IAEA report in November suggested Iran had pursued military nuclear technology. This helped to precipitate the latest sanctions by the European Union and United States.One finding was information that Iran had built a large containment chamber at the Parchin military site near Tehran to conduct high-explosives tests. The UN agency said there were "strong indicators of possible weapon development."Asked why Iran had not allowed the UN inspectors to visit Parchin, Soltanieh said: "For any visit and access there should be some sort of modality and agreement."He added: "It was assumed that after we agreed on the modality then access would be given. Since the modality was not concluded due to time constraints ... this was not possible."