Tehran (dpa) – Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were in Tehran for talks about bilateral cooperation, and not to inspect nuclear sites, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday. “This team is not an inspection but an experts' team and the aim is to clarify future cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,” Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran. The spokesman refrained from going into details, saying merely that both sides would try to find a suitable framework for future cooperation. The IAEA team is thought to want to question local nuclear scientists and visit the Parchin military complex, located in the south-eastern part of the capital Tehran, where Iran has allegedly worked on a secret nuclear weapon program. Parchin is also believed to be the place where, according to the latest IAEA report, Iran tested a simulated nuclear warhead with high explosives. Mehmanparast refrained to comment on the reported IAEA requests and whether Iran would accept them. Mehmanparast further said that Iran was ready to resume nuclear talks with the world powers, adding that the venue would most probably be Istanbul again but that no date had been set. The spokesman said that also the agenda of the talks with the six powers – Britain, China, France. Germany, Russia and the United States – had yet to be clarified. “We hope that all technical aspects would be settled soon for resuming negotiations based on goodwill,” Mehmanparast said. He added that Tehran's decision to cut oil exports to British and French companies, and threats to expand the ban to other European Union members involved in last month's oil embargo against Iran, were a natural reaction to the EU's hostile stance. “The EU made the sanctions under pressure of the US and the Zionist regime (Israel) and (it) was a wrong notion, but we still hope on a European revision as we believe in maintaining our business with the EU,” the spokesman said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/rHSvp Tags: Diplomacy, IAEA, Nuclear, Program Section: Iran, Latest News
