UN nuclear inspector: dialogue with Iran ‘long overdue’

PanARMENIAN.Net - The chief UN nuclear inspector said on Saturday, Jan 28, that a dialogue with Iran over its atomic program was long overdue, as he prepared to depart for a visit to the Islamic republic.

"We are trying to resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran, "International Atomic Energy Agency chief inspector Herman Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport.

"In particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. We are looking forward to the start of a dialogue, a dialogue that is overdue since very long."

Nackaerts was leading a six-person IAEA team that was due to hold talks with Iranian officials from Sunday until Tuesday. They were expected to arrive in Tehran in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The delegation also included IAEA number two Rafael Grossi, an Argentine, and the IAEA's senior legal official Peri Lynne Johnson, a US citizen, according to diplomats.

Nackaerts, who is Belgian, declined to comment on whom he would meet during the trip, which is aimed at clearing up what the IAEA called this week "outstanding substantive issues" on Tehran's nuclear program, AFP reported.