Iran to cooperate with nuclear watchdog, says Solana

[FarCenter]

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday Iran had said it planned to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA on inspections of a new enrichment facility.

The announcement came at a press conference in Geneva after high-level talks between Iran and six world powers on Islamic republic's controversial atomic programme.

While Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili qualified the talks as 'good' he also said his country would never forego its "absolute" rights on its nuclear programme. The delegations also agreed on a second round of talks, to be held before the end of October, Iranian state TV reported.

The first part of the meeting between Iran's nuclear negotiator and officials from the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany lasted three hours, AFP reported, citing a diplomat.

Senior officials from the six powers were expected to push Jalili to accept a “freeze for freeze” plan in order to prevent any militarisation of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Doubts remained, however, over the Iranian negotiator’s willingness to talk about the second enrichment facility at Qom, which the United States, Britain and France revealed last week.

Maurin Picard, a FRANCE 24 correspondent in Geneva, said the talks ended on an unexpected positive tone: “The next meeting, probably again in Geneva, will focus on nuclear issues and nothing else,” he said.

<SNIP>http://www.france24.com/en/20091001-iran-defends-absolute-rights-nuclear-talks-geneva-solana-jalili