Iran says IAEA nuclear talks were 'positive'
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (Original Article)
TEHRAN – Iran gave an upbeat assessment on Tuesday of two days of talks with the top investigator of the U.N. atomic energy watchdog, who was looking into Western reports that Iran secretly studied how to design nuclear bombs.
‘The talks with (Olli) Heinonen were positive,’ a senior Iranian nuclear official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Iranian officials had said Heinonen’s visit was intended to advance cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. body investigating Iran’s disputed nuclear ambitions.
Iran says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive to produce electricity so that the world’s fourth-largest crude exporter can sell more of its oil and gas abroad.
But it has failed to convince the West, which believes Tehran is seeking technology so it can build atomic weapons.
U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week vowed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, possibly by expanding sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed frustration on Tuesday about the lack of headway in the dispute with Iran.
‘We would welcome it a lot if we could make progress here,’ Merkel said at a joint news conference in Berlin with Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani.
‘Unfortunately, we’re not really moving ahead on this,’ she said.
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For his part, Sheikh Hamad urged dialogue rather than punitive measures: ‘Sanctions are counterproductive,’ he said. ‘To us in the region, it is very important that the problem is solved peacefully and not with violence.’
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions on Iran since 2006 because of its inadequate cooperation with IAEA investigations.
Heinonen raised a diplomatic stir in February with a presentation that indicated links in Iran between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a ANZ Gold missile cone in a way suitable …continue reading