The Latest from Iran: Nuclear Talks Resume With IAEA

0930 GMT: Iranian officials will resume talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency today in Vienna over oversight of the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, two months after the last high-level discussions between Tehran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China).

The parallel discussions with the IAEA have provided, but never delivered, the possibility of an agreement to pave the way for a resolution between Iran and the "West". In May, IAEA Secretary-General Yukiya Amano was optimistic that a deal was close on the arrangements for Agency inspection and verification of Iran's uranium enrichment; however, the optimism was overtaken by stalemate days later at the Iran-5+1 meeting in Baghdad.

On cue, Western diplomats have previewed today's encounter by warning of Iranian perfidy and dishonesty. On cue, David Sanger of The New York Times serves as spokesman:

International nuclear inspectors will soon report that Iran has installed hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months and may also be speeding up production of nuclear fuel while negotiations with the United States and its allies have ground to a near halt, according to diplomats and experts briefed on the findings.

Almost all of the new equipment is being installed in a deep underground site on a military base near Qum that is considered virtually invulnerable to military attack. It would suggest that a boast by senior Iranian leaders late last month — that the country had added upward of 1,000 new machines to its installation despite Western sabotage — may be true.

The report will also indicate, according to the officials familiar with its contents, that Iran is increasingly focused on enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent — a purity that it says it needs for a specialty nuclear reactor that it insists is used only for medical purposes, but that outside experts say gets it most of the way to the level needed to produce a workable nuclear bomb.

from EA WorldView: EA Iran

Posted via email from lissping