Iran says nuclear talks with IAEA 'constructive'

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-09 13:45

TEHRAN -- A senior Iranian nuclear official said Friday that the latest talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were "constructive," the official IRNA news agency reported.

The talks were "constructive" and were "held in an atmosphere of mutual understanding," Deputy Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) for International Affairs Mohammad Saeedi said.

He made the remarks after talks with IAEA Deputy Director General for Safeguards, Olli Heinonen, who arrived in Iran Thursday on a two-day visit.

"In the talks, current trend and relations between the AEOI and the IAEA were discussed in a positive atmosphere coupled with mutual understanding," Saeedi said.

Iran and the IAEA had agreed in the talks to continue talks in the future as well, Saeedi added.

Their talks came after six major countries recently agreed to consider new sanctions against Iran in the wake of remarks by Western governments saying Iran failed to give a "clear positive response" to their latest offer of incentives.

On June 14, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana handed the offer of incentives to the Iranian authorities on behalf of France, Britain, Russia, China, the United States and Germany during his visit to Tehran in a bid to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

During the visit, representatives of five of the six countries, except the U.S., also took part in talks with senior Iranian officials.

Iran has also presented its own package of proposals, which is aimed to help resolve regional and international problems, including Iran's nuclear issue.