Iran wants calm talks with IAEA

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TEHRAN, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- How well nuclear negotiations go with the International Atomic Energy Agency depends in the nature of the talks, an Iranian envoy said.

Tehran is to sit down with delegates from the IAEA next month to discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Iranian government is accused of pursuing the technology needed to produce a nuclear weapon, an allegation Tehran denies.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian envoy to the IAEA, called for a pragmatic discourse during the December talks.

"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," he told the semiofficial Fars News Agency.

A report last week in The New York Times stated that recent assessments from the IAEA suggested Iran had finished installing equipment at its underground Fordo nuclear facility. The Times report stated that while nuclear fuel production hadn't escalated at the site, some of the fuel produced there could be diverted for use in a weapon.

An early November report from the IAEA stated that nuclear inspectors were unable to "conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."