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IAEA Begins Nuclear Talks With Senior Iranian Officials Two senior International Atomic Energy Agency officials began talks with Iranian authorities today in an attempt to resolve questions about Tehran’s controversial nuclear development before the U.N.-mandated Oct. 31 deadline (see GSN, Oct. 1). The United Nations has called on Iran to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons and to open itself to intrusive, unannounced inspections of it nuclear activities. “The talks began at 10 a.m. under an atmosphere of understanding. The talks are very important and vital for both sides,” said Saber Zaimian, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. He said the talks could take “between one to three weeks depending on the progress of the negotiations.” “We were invited by Mr. Vice President (Gholamreza) Aghazadeh, so I expect that he has a very important message for us and (that we will) progress very rapidly,” Deputy IAEA Director General Pierre Goldschmidt, one of the IAEA officials who traveled to Tehran, said. “We have only a few weeks to progress and report to the next board, so I expect we are going to make great progress,” he added (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press, Oct. 2). “We’re going to start very important discussions with top officials from Iran,” Goldschmidt said. Iranian IAEA Ambassador Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran would not delay nuclear development while negotiations continued. “For the time being we will continue enriching uranium,” Salehi said yesterday (Reuters/Jordan Times, Oct. 2). Tehran, meanwhile, named a five-member panel to determine a policy toward the U.N. deadline. Panel members include Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, Information Minister Ali Yunessi, secretary for the high national security council Hassan Rowhani and Ali Velayati, the international affairs adviser to the supreme religious leader (New York Times, Oct. 2). Some Iranian officials, meanwhile, seemed anxious to settle the issue before it is sent to the U.N. Security Council. Iran is working toward “providing the necessary clarifications and taking the appropriate decisions to prevent this matter from going before the Security Council,” Kharrazi said. In a later appearance on Iranian television, however, Kharrazi said it would be pointless to allow inimpeded inspections if Iran were not allowed to enrich uranium (Chicago Tribune, Oct. 2).
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