Iran, IAEA begin new round of talks in Vienna

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have started a fresh round of negotiations in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Iran’s Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh and the agency’s Deputy Director General and Head of the Safeguards Department Herman Nackaerts opened the talks on Wednesday.

The ongoing talks are the 10th round of the negotiations between Iran and the IAEA over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program since early 2012.

In an interview with Press TV on Monday, Soltanieh said he expected progress to be made in this round of the talks.

The previous round of the negotiations was held in mid-February in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

The United States, the Israeli regime and some of their allies have falsely accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran has strongly rejected the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence showing that Tehran’s nuclear energy program has been diverted toward non-civilian objectives.