DPA
Tehran, Aug 18 (DPA) The chief inspector of the United Nations nuclear watchdog arrived Monday in Tehran to hold talks with officials of the Iranian Atomic Organization to Tehran, the ISNA news agency reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) chief inspector, Olli Heinonen, is in Tehran to follow up on last week’s negotiations with the head of the Iranian Atomic Organization, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, the news agency said.

Tehran termed the two-day talks last week as “constructive” but refrained from saying whether they also opened up perspectives for a breakthrough in the nuclear dispute.

The Iran-IAEA talks are chiefly technical and do not deal with political issues, such as whether Iran would suspend uranium enrichment in return for political and economic incentives.

The United Nations has already imposed three sets of sanctions aimed at forcing Tehran to give up uranium enrichment

Tehran has said its nuclear programme is designed for peaceful purposes, but the United States and other Western nations want further guarantees that the Islamic state is not pursuing a secret weapons programme.

A package of incentives drawn up by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany requires Iran to suspend enrichment in return for political and economic benefits.

Iran has ruled out the possibility of accepting Western demands that it bring its enrichment programme to a halt.
DPA