Iran nuclear chief meets with IAEA head

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereydoun Abbasi says he has held “good” talks with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano.

Iran’s nuclear chief and head of the UN nuclear agency met in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on Tuesday on the sidelines of the week-long Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Abbasi again emphasized the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and expressed Tehran’s readiness to fully comply with all IAEA safety standards.

He also announced Iran’s willingness to share nuclear expertise and technical possibilities with all signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) under the IAEA surveillance.

“We held good talks. We briefed the IAEA director general on the Islamic Republic’s stance (on the nuclear program),” said the AEOI head after the meeting.

Abbasi added that the sides agreed to hold further talks in the future to discuss issues pertaining to Iran’s nuclear case.

“There was no ambiguity. The sides are taking steps towards resolving problems,” he stated.

The meeting came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this month lashed out at the IAEA for doing the US bidding, urging the agency once again not to be swayed by political pressure.

“(The IAEA Director General) Yukiya Amano is moving in the direction of harming the agency’s reputation… The agency is taking orders from the United States,” said President Ahmadinejad in a press conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on June 7.

In his latest report about Iran’s nuclear activities, Amano claimed that the IAEA had received new unspecific information indicating that Iran may not merely be engaged in developing nuclear energy for civilian purposes. The IAEA chief also accused Tehran of not cooperating with international nuclear experts.

Iran has repeatedly and vehemently rejected unverified Western allegations that it is pursuing a military nuclear program, insisting that as a member of the IAEA and a signatory to the NPT, it has every right to engage in nuclear activities for all peaceful purposes.

The IAEA has been regularly conducting rigorous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence of the country’s diversion from a civilian nuclear program.