Iran held two sets of talks Wednesday aimed at easing tensions over its nuclear programme, but prospects for any breakthrough were low ahead of next month's elections in the Islamic republic. In Vienna, the UN atomic agency, the IAEA, pressed Iranian officials to grant access to sites, documents and scientists involved in Tehran's alleged efforts to develop atomic weapons. Separate but linked Wednesday evening talks in Istanbul will see EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili for the first time since fruitless six-party negotiations in Kazakhstan in April. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that there is "overall, credible" evidence that until 2003, and possibly since, Iranian scientists conducted research into developing the bomb. Iran says the IAEA's findings are based on faulty intelligence from foreign spy agencies such as the US CIA and Israel's Mossad -- intelligence it complains it has not even been allowed to see. Nine rounds of talks since the publication of a major IAEA report in November 2011 have produced no breakthrough. "As you know differences remain, but we are committed to dialogue and we are determined to solve these issues," IAEA chief inspector Herman Nackaerts told reporters as he went into the talks at Iran's embassy in the Austrian capital. "We will be working hard today to resolve the differences." The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, declined to comment. Parallel diplomatic efforts meanwhile between Iran and six major powers -- the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- are focused more on Iran's current activities, most notably uranium enrichment.
