Iran, IAEA to resume nuclear talks on Monday: report
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran and the U.N. nuclear agency watchdog will resume talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program in the Iranian capital on Monday, an Iranian official was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, did not give details, but the two sides held two rounds of discussions in Tehran last month on intelligence allegations the Islamic Republic researched how to make nuclear bombs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in April Tehran had agreed on steps to clarify the intelligence reports by the end this month. Up to now Iran has denied the information, but has not backed up its position with evidence.
The intelligence came variously from a laptop computer given to Washington by an Iranian defector in 2004, from some other Western countries and the IAEA's own inquiries.
Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the Vienna-based U.N. agency, said this week's talks would last around three days, state radio reported.
Unlike the previous two rounds, the IAEA delegation would not be headed by its top investigator, Olli Heinonen, who in a presentation in Vienna in February indicated links in Iran between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.
Iran has rejected the intelligence about weapons experiments as fabricated. The world's fourth-largest oil producer says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more of its oil and gas.
In Washington on Friday, diplomats said world powers in the coming days will offer a revised package of trade and other incentives to Iran if it suspends its sensitive nuclear work, something Tehran has consistently refused to do.
Iran has said it will unveil its own ideas to help end the dispute over its nuclear ambitions, which have prompted three rounds of U.N. sanctions since 2006.
(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Matthew Jones)
