U.N. nuclear agency says Iran meeting was useful

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said its head had a constructive meeting with Iran's top negotiator in talks over Tehran's atomic program on Tuesday, days after a U.N. report found cooperation had stalled.        

 

"Today's meeting was useful and facilitated a better understanding between the two sides," the International Atomic Energy Agency said after its Director General Yukiya Amano and Iran's Abbas Araqchi met in Vienna.          

 

"The discussions focused on the need to resolve, as soon as possible, all outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear program," a statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran's nuclear negotiator promised speedier cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, days after the U.N. watchdog said Tehran was continuing to stall parts of an investigation into its nuclear program.

"We agreed ... to move faster and in a better sense (in cooperation with the IAEA)," Abbas Araqchi told reporters after meeting IAEA head Yukiya Amano in Vienna.

Iran hopes to clinch a framework political deal with world powers by an end-March deadline over its nuclear energy work that the West fears is a cover for a weapons program.

Lingering doubts over its cooperation with the IAEA could cloud those talks. Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

"We were able to review the course of cooperation between Iran and the agency and we decided to expedite that cooperation, acknowledging the important role of the agency in any future possible agreement between Iran and the P5+1," Araqchi said, referring to the six-country group with which it is negotiating.

Araqchi said that progress had been made at the latest talks with representatives of the P5+1 group, made up of Russia, Britain, China, France, the United states and Germany, but that there was still a "long way to go".

Talks will resume next Monday, it was decided after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks in Geneva on Sunday and Monday.

A senior U.S. official said the sides at that meeting had been able to "sharpen up some of the tough issues".