IAEA hopes nuke deal with Iran soon

The chief UN nuclear inspector yesterday said after "good" talks in Tehran that he expects to reach a deal with Iran in January on outstanding issues over its controversial atomic programme.
"We have agreed to meet again on 16 January next year, where we expect to finalise the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that," Herman Nackaerts of the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
"We had good meetings," he told reporters at Vienna airport after the meeting in Tehran, adding that Parchin, a military base at the centre of the IAEA's investigation is "part of the structured approach."
Parchin featured in a major IAEA report issued in November 2011 summarising what it says is "overall, credible" evidence that until 2003, and possibly since, Iran conducted weapons research.
Because the bulk of the information in the report comes from foreign intelligence agencies, Iran has said it is either forged or related to non-nuclear work.
Thursday's meeting between Nackaerts's team and Iranian officials was the latest in a string of what have up till now been fruitless talks this year between the Iranians and the IAEA, the latest in August in Vienna.
The West suspects Iran is using its nuclear programme as a cover for developing atomic weapons, charges Tehran denies.