Top officials from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran on
Monday for the final round of nuclear talks over Iran's P-1 and P-2
centrifuges, the state media reported.
Olli Heinonen, deputy director general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) heads the delegation, which tasked with
negotiations with Iran over the country's use of P1 centrifuges and
its research into the more sophisticated P2, which are both for
enriching uranium, according to the official IRNA news agency's
report.
"We have done many things so far but there remains a lot of
other work that hopefully will be resolved," Heinonen was quoted as
saying upon his arrival at the airport.
According to the state television, Mohammad Saeedi, who heads
Iranian delegation and is deputy head of the country's Atomic
Energy Organization, said the previous talks with the IAEA were "
comprehensive and explicit," adding the Islamic Republic was ready
to answer the remaining questions to finish the talks over
centrifuges.
"Tehran hopes both sides can conclude negotiations in the new
round of talks," said Saeedi.
Compare to P1, P2 centrifuges are more advanced and could
produce more uranium, which can be used as nuclear fuel or key
material for atomic weapons at the same time.
The ongoing talks is crucial since the result of it could be
basis for a report over the status of the Iranian uranium
enrichment program by the IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei by the end
of November.
The United States and some other Western countries fear Iran may
try to develop atomic bombs under a civilian cover, however Tehran
insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
The UN Security Council has already issued two sanction
resolutions against Iran's nuclear program since last December, but
both of them failed to persuade the Islamic Republic to give up
uranium enrichment work.
Washington now is trying to push the UN Security Council to
adopt a third resolution against Tehran's defiance, but Iran's
cooperation with the IAEA and the EU in the past months has let
other world powers agree to wait the ElBaradei's report until
November to make their decision.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2007)
