IAEA Chief in Iran to Hold N. Talks
(FNA)- Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano arrived in Tehran on Monday morning to hold talks with the Iranian officials on different aspects of the country's peaceful nuclear program.
Amano, accompanied by his chief inspector Herman Nackaerts and number two Rafael Mariano Grossi, was welcomed at the airport by Iran's IAEA envoy, Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh, and a number of other officials.
During his one-day stay, Amano will hold talks with Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoun Abbassi Davani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
The trip comes ahead of a Wednesday meeting in Baghdad between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - plus the European Union - that are aimed at laying the groundwork to resolving the two sides' differences over Iran's nuclear program.
Amano, accompanied by IAEA chief inspector Hermann Nackaerts and agency number two Rafael Grossi, would meet other "senior representatives of the Iranian government" for talks "to discuss issues of mutual interest" in his first trip to Iran since becoming head of the IAEA, the agency said.
Diplomats said the fact that the Japanese Amano himself was going raised hopes of a breakthrough.
Another Vienna diplomat said that the surprise announcement was a "hopeful" sign, while a third said they expected Amano to "conclude the negotiations on the modalities (of cooperation) and to have it formalized in a document.
Iran and the IAEA held two rounds of talks in Tehran in January and February this year.
But after their third round of talks in Vienna on May 14-15, both sides were more upbeat, raising hopes of a possible outcome when talks resume on Monday.
After this week's talks between Iran and the IAEA, diplomats said the two parties are making headway towards a framework deal on how to resolve outstanding issues of difference, a potential bargaining chip for Tehran in next week's negotiations with the world powers.
Soltaniyeh had earlier reiterated that such an agreement is needed before it can consider a request by UN inspectors to visit the Parchin military site.
The UN nuclear watchdog and Iran were due to meet again in Vienna on May 21, two days before Tehran and the six global powers discuss Iran's nuclear program in Baghdad.
But, the IAEA statement announced that Amano's visit to Iran will replace the talks that had been set to resume on Monday in Vienna between Soltaniyeh and Nackaerts.
Soltaniyeh gave no further details, saying only that this "is a visit for talking about issues of common interest, and of course about cooperation with the IAEA".
Western diplomats accredited to the UN agency told Reuters that Iran seemed keen to agree a so-called "structured approach" - an outline of how to address the IAEA's questions - ahead of Baghdad in the apparent hope of gaining leverage there.
They welcomed Iran's cooperation with the IAEA.
"There are still some outstanding issues but there is a possibility an agreement is reached on Monday," one Western diplomat said. It would be "a step forward on the process side," he said.
He said it would be a document on the scope and principles of how to pursue talks on Iran's nuclear program.