Iran, IAEA express progress in talks

TEHRAN, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have expressed progress in the recent talks over Iran's nuclear program.

Herman Nackaerts, the IAEA's deputy director general for safeguards, who led a seven-member delegation, held a new round of talks on some aspects of Iran's nuclear program with Iranian nuclear officials behind closed doors in Tehran on Thursday.

At the end of the one-day talks, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, said that the talks between Iran and the IAEA experts were "constructive and good progress was made," Press TV reported.

After intensive talks, another round of talks was decided to be held between both sides in Tehran on Jan. 16, 2013, said Soltanieh.

Iran and the IAEA experts have held several rounds of talks since the beginning of this year in an attempt to find mechanisms to shed a light on the gray side of Iran's nuclear activities; however, no breakthrough was made and no agreement was signed.

On Thursday, although the IAEA delegation was not granted access to one of the Iranian disputed military sites, where the UN body suspects that some explosive experiments might have been carried out, they expressed hope that Iran would provide the chance for investigations in the upcoming meetings.