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IAEA team in Tehran

Iran Materials 11 July 2007 11:56 (UTC +04:00)

( Irna ) - A team of technical, legal and political directors from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to draw up a framework to resolve the outstanding issues about Iran's nuclear program.

The team is led by the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards chief, Olli Heinonen.

The IAEA director for safeguards operations, Herman Nackartes, its legal advisor, Johan Rautenbach, and director in charge of the agency's external relations and policy coordination, Vilmos Cxerveny, are other members of the team.

The team is also expected to hold talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, on mutual issues during its three-day stay in Iran. The talks would be within the frameworks of the

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the IAEA safeguards.

The IAEA team is in Tehran to design a formula to resolve the dispute with IAEA on Iranian nuclear program.

The idea to draw up the framework was put forward by Larijani while he was in Madrid, Spain, last month for talks with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana about Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

During his talks with Solana, the Iranian diplomat has dismissed the call for suspension of uranium enrichment calling it "outdated, insufficient and impractical".

Later, in a meeting with the IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna on June 22, Larijani invited a delegation from the IAEA to visit Iran and hold talks with Iranian officials over drawing an a plan of action to put an end to the stalemate between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog.

According to Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for International Affairs Javad Vaeedi Tehran and IAEA are expected to draw up a framework, within 60 days, to resolve Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West.

The framework could be implemented should the West stop making efforts which disturb the process, Vaeedi added.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the IAEA delegation's visit to Tehran, the agency chief, ElBaradei, said on Monday that Iran has slowed down the process of installing centrifuges in its nuclear facilities.

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