Reuters/Vienna
The UN nuclear watchdog said yesterday it hoped to gain long-sought access to the Parchin military site during a visit to Iran this week aimed at unblocking its investigation into suspected atom bomb research in the country.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will seek to nail down a framework deal with Iran in today’s talks in Tehran that would enable it to relaunch its inquiry, IAEA deputy director general Herman Nackaerts said.
“We are approaching these talks in a constructive spirit ... and we trust that Iran will work with us in the same spirit,” he said at Vienna airport before his team departed for Tehran for a new round of what have long been fruitless negotiations.
World powers striving to resolve a decade-old dispute over Iran’s atomic work and avert the threat of a new Middle East war will scrutinise the IAEA-Iran talks for any indication of an Iranian readiness to finally start addressing their concerns.
The six powers - the US, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain - and Iran may later in January resume their separate negotiations to try and reach a broader diplomatic settlement. They last met in June.
The IAEA, whose mission it is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in the world, has been trying for a year to negotiate a so-called structured approach with Tehran that would give it access to sites, officials and documents in Iran.
The agency said after a previous meeting with Iran in mid-December that progress had been made and that it expected to conclude the agreement in the January talks.
“We are aiming to finalise the structured approach to resolving the outstanding issues on the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear programme,” Nackaerts said.
Western diplomats were sceptical of the prospects for a breakthrough in view of what they see as years of Iranian stonewalling of the IAEA’s concerns. Even if there were a deal, it remained to be seen how it would be implemented, they said.
Asked if there was any reason for optimism about this week’s talks, one Western envoy said: “None that I’m aware of.”
The IAEA’s immediate priority is to visit the Parchin military facility southeast of Tehran, where it suspects explosives tests relevant for production of nuclear weapons may have taken place, perhaps a decade ago.
Iran denies the allegations and has so far denied access, despite repeated IAEA requests over the last year.
“We hope that we will be allowed to go to Parchin and if access is granted we will welcome the chance to do so,” Nackaerts said. “We are ready to go.”
Some members of the IAEA team were carrying metallic cases, apparently with equipment they would need to inspect Parchin for any traces of illicit nuclear-related activity there.
Nackaerts talks to journalists at Vienna airport yesterday.
