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Roundup: Iran, IAEA strive to tackle remaining key nuclear issues

Xinhua, March 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog agreed Monday to continue cooperation to solve outstanding issues pertaining to Iran's nuclear program, said Reza Najafi, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"The discussions, questions and answers were technical and very serious, which is the sign of the will on both sides to continue cooperation," Najafi told reporters following a meeting between Iranian officials and a delegation from the IAEA who arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks.

Berouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said earlier that the talks are aimed at resolving two remaining key issues subject to cooperation between Iran and the IAEA.

The IAEA said that Iran has not yet addressed questions on alleged research activities into explosives testing and neutron calculations, according to the Press TV.

Two remaining issues, about Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, were on the agenda of the talks on Monday and "Since the subjects are very complicated, Iran and the IAEA agreed to hold another meeting in mid-April in Tehran," Najafi was quoted as saying by state IRIB TV.

The Iranian envoy expressed the hope that the next meeting "will help further progress on solving the remaining issues and an agreement which would be satisfactory for both sides."

Iran has already started taking transparency measures within the framework of a deal it signed earlier with the agency, Kamalvandi also said, adding that the talks should come to a conclusion and it "cannot be an endless process."

The IAEA delegation's visit comes several days after Iran announced that it is ready to allow IAEA inspectors to visit the western Marivan site, where Iran is alleged to have conducted some weapons experiments.

On March 2, Yukiya Amano, head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, said Iran should answer questions about its alleged nuclear weapons program.

"Iran has yet to provide explanations that enable the agency to clarify two outstanding practical measures," he said.

The IAEA and Iran have made no tangible progress in the past months in clarifying some key elements of outstanding issues on Tehran's nuclear plans.

Under an interim deal inked between Iran and the world's major countries in November 2013, Tehran suspended certain nuclear activities in return for limited easing of sanctions, as all sides continue working towards a comprehensive deal.

Western states insist Iran come clean about its alleged nuclear bomb research if it wants to put an end to the decade-old issue. Iran said its nuclear program is peaceful and the allegation is baseless.

The P5+1 group -- namely the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia plus Germany -- are currently engaged in intensive talks with Iran and, for the most part, they rely on IAEA information on Iran's nuclear activities in a run for a comprehensive deal with the country.

The official IRNA news agency reported on Monday that Kamalvandi, who is also a deputy for the AEOI, is scheduled to pay an official visit to the Russian capital Moscow in the coming days to discuss the construction of two nuclear power plants. Endit