WORLD> Middle East
|
WORLD> Middle East
|
|
Iran nuclear talks with US and allies eases tension
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-02 13:46 UN nuclear inspection Underlining the determination of the big powers to move ahead with a rapid UN inspection of the plant, Obama insisted Iran must meet its pledge.
The International Atomic Energy Agency head, Mohamed ElBaradei, will visit Iran this weekend, a senior US official said. Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the gates of the Qom site were open in principle but protocols had to be observed. "Inspections will take place soon ... it is not far away," he said. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Iran had promised to cooperate fully and immediately with the IAEA on the Qom facility. "(It) will invite them soon, within the next couple of weeks," he told reporters. Thursday's talks are expected to win Iran a reprieve from tougher UN sanctions, although Western powers are likely to be wary of any attempt by Tehran to buy time to develop its nuclear program by holding "talks for talks' sake." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the talks, "I think it was a productive day but the proof of that has not yet come to fruition so we will wait and continue to press our point of view and see what Iran decides to do." US Undersecretary of State William Burns met Jalili for about 45 minutes on the fringes of the main talks, the highest- level contact between the United States and Iran in three decades and emblematic of Obama's attempts to forge a closer relationship with the Islamic Republic. At the United Nations, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran had now declared all its nuclear facilities. "Time is pressing," French official Jacques Audibert told reporters. "There must be proof of a deep evolution in the management of Iran's nuclear program." A US official said an Iranian agreement in principle to ship most of its uranium overseas could be significant. "It will remove that source of anxiety," the official said. The Russian RIA agency quoted a source close to the talks as saying Moscow was ready to discuss enriching Iranian uranium from 4 percent purity to 19.75 percent suitable for civilian reactors "if, of course, such a request comes from the IAEA."
|
