UN nuke chief's visit to Iran hints at deal
Source: Agencies |
May 20, 2012, Sunday
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THE United Nations nuclear agency chief will fly to Tehran today to sign a deal meant to allow his organization to resume a long-stalled search for evidence that Iran worked on developing nuclear arms, the agency and diplomats said on Friday.
The trip by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano comes just four days ahead of a key meeting between six world powers and Iran where the six hope to wrest concessions from Tehran meant to reduce concerns that it wants such arms.
An IAEA statement announcing today's trip said only that Amano would "discuss issues of mutual interest with high Iranian officials" during his one-day visit, which will include a meeting with Saeed Jalili. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator will also represent his country at the meeting on Wednesday in Baghdad with the six world powers.
But diplomats said the visit was scheduled to allow both sides to agree on an accord outlining the mechanics of IAEA access to sites, information and officials it seeks for its investigation into whether Tehran secretly conducted nuclear weapons research and development.
The diplomats demanded anonymity because their information was confidential. They cautioned that signing such a deal was only the first step, adding that its implementation was the true test of Iranian willingness to end more than four years of refusing to work with the IAEA probe after some initial cooperation.
Still, if Iran does abide by such a deal and give the IAEA the access it seeks, that could result in putting to rest the dispute over whether the country hid such work from the rest of the world. A second round of talks on the issue had been scheduled in Vienna after an Iran-IAEA meeting last week in the Austrian capital, and the surprise announcement that Amano would instead be flying to Tehran suggested that a deal was ready to be signed.
Tehran could point to any deal reached with Amano as proof of its willingness to compromise and demand that the six - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - in return temper demands that Iran end higher-level enrichment of uranium.
Iran says it is enriching only to create nuclear fuel, but its critics fear it will use the technology to arm warheads.
The trip by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano comes just four days ahead of a key meeting between six world powers and Iran where the six hope to wrest concessions from Tehran meant to reduce concerns that it wants such arms.
An IAEA statement announcing today's trip said only that Amano would "discuss issues of mutual interest with high Iranian officials" during his one-day visit, which will include a meeting with Saeed Jalili. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator will also represent his country at the meeting on Wednesday in Baghdad with the six world powers.
But diplomats said the visit was scheduled to allow both sides to agree on an accord outlining the mechanics of IAEA access to sites, information and officials it seeks for its investigation into whether Tehran secretly conducted nuclear weapons research and development.
The diplomats demanded anonymity because their information was confidential. They cautioned that signing such a deal was only the first step, adding that its implementation was the true test of Iranian willingness to end more than four years of refusing to work with the IAEA probe after some initial cooperation.
Still, if Iran does abide by such a deal and give the IAEA the access it seeks, that could result in putting to rest the dispute over whether the country hid such work from the rest of the world. A second round of talks on the issue had been scheduled in Vienna after an Iran-IAEA meeting last week in the Austrian capital, and the surprise announcement that Amano would instead be flying to Tehran suggested that a deal was ready to be signed.
Tehran could point to any deal reached with Amano as proof of its willingness to compromise and demand that the six - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - in return temper demands that Iran end higher-level enrichment of uranium.
Iran says it is enriching only to create nuclear fuel, but its critics fear it will use the technology to arm warheads.
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