Iranian nuclear talks with IAEA begin today

The IAEA’s team of seven officials, led by Chief Inspector Herman Nackaerts, may extend their single day of talks in Tehran if negotiations go well, according to Tehran’s Kayhan newspaper, a publication controlled by the office of Iran’s supreme leader, Bloomberg reports.

“There is now an opportunity to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic means,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said on December 7 in a speech in Washington. “The IAEA remains firmly committed to dialogue. Now is the time for all of us to work with a sense of urgency and seize on the opportunity for a diplomatic solution.”

It will be the first meeting between the sides since talks broke down in August. Trust between the agency and Iran has subsequently deteriorated. Iran’s nuclear chief accused the IAEA of spying on behalf of Western powers in September. Senior international officials said those charges created an atmosphere of intimidation for atomic inspectors working in Iran.

“I have my doubts about the sincerity of Iran,” U.S. IAEA envoy Robert Woods said on November 29 at a meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors in Vienna. “Iran has done nothing other than stonewall.”