Talks with Iran on getting access to military base

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Yukiya Amano

The United Nations Nuclear Agency chief said on Friday he was not optimistic about talks with Iran next week on getting access to a military base. Western powers suspect Iran nuclear plan has been used for atom bomb-related work.

The comments by Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), contrasted with a more upbeat assessment given by the Vienna-based UN agency after a meeting with Iranian officials last month.

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 Iran that would give it access to sites, officials and documents.

The Agency?s priority is to visit the Parchin military facility southeast of Tehran, where the agency suspect?s explosives tests relevant for nuclear weapons may have taken place, perhaps a decade ago, but Tehran denies this. “The outlook is not bright,??

Amano said in Tokyo, referring to the negotiations to be held in Tehran on Wednesday on the framework accord the IAEA hopes will enable it to quickly resume its stalled investigation into suspected atom bomb research. The talks between the IAEA and Iran are separate from, but linked to, broader diplomacy by six world powers to resolve the nuclear row with Iran before it leads to a Middle East war, feared because of Israeli threats to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

Western powers say Iran is trying to develop the capability to make atomic weapons, a charge the Islamic Republic rejects. Both the IAEA and Tehran have said progress was achieved at the December meeting, without giving details.

 

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