Reuters, Vienna :No breakthrough was reached between the U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran on unresolved questions around Tehran’s nuclear program, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday after a visit to Tehran.Tehran and world powers are pushing for a final deal at nuclear talks in Vienna, under which Iran would agree to scale back its atomic research – which it denies is aimed at developing a bomb – in exchange for a lifting of sanctions.The IAEA will play a crucial role in monitoring and verifying any final deal. Iran has been stalling the agency’s investigation, running parallel to the political talks, into possible military dimensions of Tehran’s past nuclear work.Yukiya Amano, the IAEA’s director general, on Thursday met Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, in Tehran.”The purpose of the visit was to advance work towards the resolution of all outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program, including clarification of possible military dimensions,” Yukiya Amano said in a statement.”I believe that both sides have a better understanding on some ways forward, though more work will be needed.” The U.S. and some other negotiating countries want Iran to go further.”We should be realistic,” said the Iranian official, who briefed members of the news media on condition he not be quoted by name. He also questioned the legitimacy of countries that don’t accept the International Atomic Energy Agency’s jurisdiction demanding that Iran be subject to tougher requirements than any other nation. RIA-Novosti reported that Russia also backed Iran’s position that additional inspection guidelines for Iran weren’t necessary.The official was making a clear reference to Israel, a state widely presumed to maintain an undeclared nuclear arsenal.But the marker will be a cause of concern for the Obama administration and some of its negotiating partners, who are hoping to forge an agreement that would curb Iran’s atomic program for a decade in exchange for relief from crippling sanctions.German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier leaves Palais Coburg where closed-door nuclear talks …Iran has committed to implementing the IAEA’s “additional protocol” for inspections and monitoring as part of an accord. The protocol gives the IAEA expanded access to declared and undeclared nuclear sites, and to the sensitive information of the more than 120 governments that accept its provisions.
