Iran wants IAEA to highlight atomic coop

Tehran, Aug 20: Iran expects the UN nuclear watchdog to highlight Tehran's cooperation in its next report on Iran's atomic programme, which could determine whether it faces more UN sanctions, an Iranian official said today.

Senior officials from Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency meet for a third round of talks today and tomorrow to discuss Tehran's offer of more transparency, part of Iran's effort to ward off a third UN sanctions resolution.

Iran, under UN pressure to suspend work the West suspects is aimed at assembling nuclear bombs, agreed in June to draft an ''action plan'' within 60 days to give the IAEA more access to atomic sites and resolve questions about the scope of its work.

Two earlier rounds of negotiations were held in July and August.

Mohammad Saeedi, deputy of head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, today described those talks as ''very good and constructive'' but said discussions still had a long way to run.

Western diplomats say Iran has known for years what issues need clearing up and Tehran may be buying time to delay more penalties.

But some diplomats also say the IAEA needs time to determine if Iran has become more open.

Iran says its atomic work is aimed at making electricity so it can export more of its huge oil and gas resources.

''Our expectation from Mohammad ElBaradei, the agency's director, is that he would point to this cooperation in his report,'' Iran's Saeedi told the official IRNA news agency.

''Of course, this path (of negotiations) will be a path that will take a lot of time,'' he said.

Trickiest Issues

ElBaradei has said Iran's pledge to work out an action plan has raised chances of resolving the stalemate between Iran and the West over Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

''This process will take time. The strategy of suspension failed a long time ago so the West has no option but to wait and let the agency have whatever time is needed. There is no other practical way,'' said one senior diplomat in Vienna familiar with the Iran file.

The current round of discussions will tackle some of the trickiest issues such as the origin of traces of highly enriched -- or bomb-grade -- uranium found on some equipment and the status of research into advanced centrifuges used in enrichment.

Enrichment, the part of Iran's programme that most worries the West, is a process for making fuel for nuclear power plants.

But if Iran refined significant amounts of uranium to a high degree, a threshold most analysts believe it is still a few years away from achieving, it could produce bomb material.

An IAEA report is due out by early September. World powers have put off efforts to toughen sanctions at least until then.

The United States, leading moves to isolate Iran, has said Tehran can only avert more sanctions by halting sensitive atomic work. Russia, another permanent U.N. Security Council member, is balking at further sanctions as long as the IAEA has a chance to clear up outstanding questions.

IAEA deputy director Olli Heinonen described past talks as constructive when he arrived at the head of the IAEA team in Tehran, Iran's ISNA news agency reported. His counterpart in the talks is Iranian deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi.

After Heinonen's talks in July, Iran reopened the Arak heavy-water reactor it is building for inspection after barring access in April in protest over the second batch of sanctions.

Reuters>