IAEA determined to continue dialogue with Iran

The deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Herman Nackaerts, said Thursday that the agency is determined to continue the talks with Iran on the nuclear energy program of that Persian country.

"Our commitment to continue the dialogue is unwavering. We will work hard to try to resolve the remaining differences," Nackaerts told reporters after arriving at the airport in Vienna, the Austrian capital, from Iran.

He also announced that a final agreement has not yet been produced and that no date has been set to resume talks between the two sides.

An IAEA delegation, headed by Nackaerts, met Wednesday with an Iranian negotiating team, led by Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Persian country's permanent representative to the Agency.

After the meeting, held in Tehran, Soltanieh said that the two sides had reached a basic agreement to develop a roadmap aimed at resolving the outstanding issues relating to the Persian nation's nuclear issue.

He explained that, at its next meeting, Iran and the IAEA will discuss other differences related to the Iranian nuclear case.

Iran is also ready to resume talks on its nuclear program with the Group 5 +1 (U.S., France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany) on the 25th of February in Kazakhstan.

Although the Iranian government argues that the aim of its nuclear program is to generate energy for peaceful civilian use, the USA and some of its allies continue to accuse Tehran, insisting that its nuclear activities are being pursued in a military dimension.

Besides rejecting the allegations, Iran says that as a member of the IAEA and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), they have the right to acquire and develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

It should also be remembered that the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa saying that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons was forbidden under Islam. The fatwa was cited in an official statement by the Iranian government at an August 2005 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.


Translated from the Spanish version by:

Lisa Karpova
Pravda.Ru