Official: Iran, IAEA to Discuss Modality Plan for Cooperation in Thursday Talks

"The meeting will focus on technical negotiations between Iran and the Agency for deciding the framework and modality plan of (mutual) cooperation," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Oceania Seyed Abbas Araqchi told FNA on Tuesday.

Asked about the level of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, he said, "We have said before that the framework of cooperation should be distinct; any visit and cooperation which is beyond our IAEA undertakings should be fully clear and distinct."

The IAEA and Iran are scheduled to hold a new round of talks on the country's nuclear energy program in Tehran on December 13.

In relevant remarks in November, Iran's Residing Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh said successful talks between Iran and the IAEA need an atmosphere free from political hues and cries.

Soltaniyeh stressed the necessity for a "calm atmosphere" for successful talks between the two sides, and told FNA, "The success of talks in Tehran in removing the ambiguities (about Iran nuclear program) would depend on a calm atmosphere free from political hues and cries."

Earlier, the IAEA Spokesperson, Gill Tudor, said that Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog agency have decided to hold a new meeting in Tehran in December, adding that both sides are determined to explore a new approach for resolving differences over Tehran's nuclear activities.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of IAEA's questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.
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