IAEA: Nuclear talks with Iran failed
Reuters, Feb 22 2012
The IAEA said Wednesday that it had failed to secure an agreement with Iran during two days of talks over disputed atomic activities and that the Islamic Republic had rejected a request to visit a key military site. The five-member IAEA team led by Deputy Dir-Gen Nackaerts had travelled to Tehran in the second such trip in less than a month. The IAEA said in a statement:
During both the first and second round of discussions, the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place.
The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November. IAEA Dir-Gen Amano said:
It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached.
Earlier, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told ISNA that Tehran expected to hold more talks with the IAEA. Last year’s IAEA report helped precipitate the latest rounds of EU and US sanctions, which are causing economic hardship in Iran ahead of a parliamentary election in March. The IAEA said intensive efforts were made to reach agreement in the talks on a document “facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues” in connection with Iran’s nuclear program. It said in an unusually blunt statement:
Unfortunately, agreement was not reached on this document.
Amano’s spokeswoman made clear no further meetings were planned. She said:
At this point in time there is no agreement on further discussions.
