Iran: Talks over suspect site "on the right track"

Satellite image of part of the Iranian military complex at Parchin, about 20 miles southwest of Tehran. / Google Earth

(AP) VIENNA - Iran's envoy to talks with the U.N. nuclear agency said Tuesday the meeting was going well, as the two sides began their second day of discussion of agency suspicions that Tehran might have tested atomic arms technology.

Iran denies the accusations, insisting its nuclear program is geared only toward producing nuclear energy. Still, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been unable to gain access to a specific site it suspects of being used for such work for three months. Overall, it has been stonewalled for more than four years on its attempt to visit such facilities, as well as interview scientists it suspects may have been involved and to look at relevant documents.

In depth

Iran's nuclear sites »

That site is at the military base of Parchin, where the IAEA believes Iran ran explosives tests used to set off a nuclear charge in 2003, in a pressure chamber that was later hidden by a building put up around it. Recent satellite imagery shows what IAEA officials believe is an attempt to clean up the site, ahead of a possible IAEA inspection.

A senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA probe says Iran has never said whether the chamber existed. A computer-generated drawing provided to the AP by a nation critical of Iran's nuclear program shows such a structure, with the official who shared it saying it was drawn based on information from someone who saw it. Former IAEA Deputy Director Olli Heinonen says it jibes with a photo he has seen that depicts the chamber, down to the matching colors.

Going into Tuesday's meeting at the Iranian mission to the IAEA and other U.N. organizations, Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters "everything is on the right track." He described the atmosphere as "very constructive," adding that talks on Monday were "good."

IAEA chief negotiator Herman Nackaerts said he could not comment on ongoing talks.

[Nikos_Retsos]

There will never be any "talks with Iran on the right track," because the U.S., Israel, and the IAEA want to derail Iran's nuclear program, and Iran is determined to keep it on tracks - even with war if necessary. The Europeans are on the U.S. side by default - as U.S. poodles, an appellation sprouted during the Iraq invasion, in which British prime minister Tony Blair was nicknamed "George Bush poodle" by the British themselves!

Iran sees the IAEA as the U.S. and Israeli agent trying to scoop Iran's state secrets for them! Iran, therefore, will do what is obliged to do by the NPT, but not open the doors of its nuclear program wide for anybody to inspect - especially when it warmongering enemies are those pushing for it! Plus, Iran is certainly disgusted with the West's effort to dismantle its nuclear program, while the West mutes Israel's nuclear program. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has revealed that Israel has about 300 nuclear weapons.

Similar Western push and pressure by the the West and the IAEA forced North Korea to withdraw from the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003. Iran has also ratified it, but it has not followed N. Korea's example. If Iran wanted to develop nukes, it would have withdrawn from the NTP -like North Korea did- and shut the IAEA out! That is what Israel, India and Pakistan have done too.

The epilogue: The West's "track," and Iran's "track" on the talks are pointing at "different directions," and they will never reach on the same destination! Nikos Retsos, retired professor

[ricscore]

Are you for real, why waste the time. Iran is going to have nuke's soon and there is nothing anyone is willing to do about it. Stop waste print space in the newspapers/internet.