Iran says agreed on "some points" with IAEA-media

 
A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday that Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog had agreed on "some points" during talks in Tehran and would meet again, Iran's Fars News Agency reported, without giving a date.   

The comments by Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, indicated that the two sides had failed again to finalize a deal that would allow the IAEA to restart an investigation into Tehran's atomic activities.   

"In addition to removing some differences and agreeing on some points in the text...the two sides decided to review and exchange views about the new proposals that were given in this meeting, in the next meeting," he said, according to the Fars report. 

Earlier, Iran's nuclear chief said his country has begun installing a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges at its main facility making nuclear fuel.
     
The announcement coincided with talks Wednesday with senior U.N. nuclear inspectors seeking to expand probes into suspected weapons-related tests. It also could add pressure to planned negotiations later this month between Iran and world powers.
     
The official IRNA news agency quotes Fereidoun Abbasi as saying that Iran began installing the new centrifuges at Natanz site in central Iran about a month ago. He says they only will be used to produce low-level enriched uranium.
   
But advanced centrifuges can vastly increase Iran's pace of enrichment, which the West fears could be eventually turned into warhead-grade material. Iran insists it wants nuclear fuel only for energy reactors and research.


AP