IAEA Terms Talks with Iran Constructive

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deputy Director General Ollie Heinonen described his two-day talks in Tehran with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Undersecretary Javad Vaeedi as “constructive”. Speaking to reporters in a joint press conference with Vaeedi here in Tehran on Tuesday, the IAEA deputy director general for safeguard affairs said, “We have now in front of us an agreed work plan. We have agreed on modalities, how to implement it. We have a timeline for implementation and we spent quite a lot of time in talking about the details and proceed through our steps.”

He also said that the two parties have identified the outstanding issues of Tehran’s nuclear program and agreed on conditions to find a common ground.

Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi also said the two sides agreed on a framework to resolve the outstanding issues over Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Iranian and IAEA officials did not elaborate or provide more details on the timetable.

The agreement was announced at the end of two days of talks in Tehran between Heinonen and Vaeedi.

The two sides did not say what the unresolved issues were.

In the past, Iran has vowed to carry on its uranium enrichment activities, insisting that the program was peaceful and geared solely toward producing electricity.

The UN Security Council has already imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran, mostly economic and mainly targeting the country’s nuclear and missile programs.

Iran has rejected both resolutions as illegal, saying it would not give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.

The United States and some of its allies allege that Tehran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to produce atomic weapons, but they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their claims.

Iran denies the charge vehemently, saying its program is merely aimed at generating electricity.

Iran says it is too late to stop its nuclear program because it has already mastered nuclear fuel production, from extracting uranium ore to enriching it.