November 01-2013
Iranian nuclear negotiators sat down Monday and Tuesday with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to try to work out an agreement under which the IAEA will get to see more of what Iran has been doing on its nuclear program.
This was the 12th meeting between the two parties. Nothing came out of this meeting—the same result as the previous 11 meetings. Both sides said the latest meeting was productive, but that is what they have both generally said previously.
However, a joint statement issued at the end said, “Iran presented a new proposal on practical measures as a constuctive contribution to strengthen cooperation and dialogue with a view to future resolution of all outstanding issues.”
They agreed to meet again November 11 in Tehran to further discuss the Iranian proposal.
The Iranian team was led by Reza Najafi, Iran’s new ambassador to the IAEA. The IAEA team was led by Tero Varjoranta, a Finn who became the IAEA deputy director general in charge of inspections on October 1.
The IAEA is tasked with determining just exactly what Iran has done in its nuclear program over the decades. To accomplish that, the IAEA has said it must have access to people, places and paper—people who had a role in the program over the years, places where nuclear work is believed to have been carried out (such as the Parchin military base south of Tehran), and paper, meaning documents and records from Iran’s files on its nuclear program