Agence France-Presse,
VIENNA: Iran and the UN atomic watchdog began discussions on Tuesday in Vienna over Tehran's nuclear programme, a diplomat said.
The talks are to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to better evaluate whether the nature of Iran's programme is entirely peaceful, said the diplomat, who is close to the agency.
The Iranian delegation is headed by the country's deputy national security chief Javad Vaeidi and Iran's IAEA ambassador, Ali Asghar Soltanieh.
The IAEA delegation is being led by Olli Heinonen, who is deputy head of the IAEA and its chief inspector.
Soltanieh said before the meeting that UN and Iranian experts would seek to put together a working framework of “precise rules” concerning any inspections of Tehran's nuclear facilities.
But one diplomat said Monday that the talks were technical in nature and “one should not expect too much”.
Iran said on July 13 that it would let IAEA inspectors visit a reactor that was being built at Arak and could produce heavy water for plutonium.
But no date has yet been set for the visit which was to take place this month.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to generate electricity but the UN Security Council has imposed two rounds of sanctions to get Tehran to stop enriching uranium, and there are calls for a third round.
