Iran wants results from IAEA talks

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TEHRAN, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear program should be an issue that tops the agenda during talks this week with U.N. inspectors, a government spokesman said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tehran was looking forward to talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency that yield "remarkable results," the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.

Talks between the IAEA and Tehran are scheduled for Thursday. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told the agency's Board of Governors last month that he was concerned Iran might be hiding nuclear activity from inspectors at its Parchin military complex outside Tehran. Iran, he said, isn't providing assurances that its nuclear activity is exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, said it has the right to engage in nuclear energy and medical research.

"In these talks, all our country's rights to utilize nuclear know-how and fuel cycle should be emphasized and their (the other side) possible concerns about our nuclear activities should be eased in the framework of an all-inclusive and general (modality) plan," the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.