United Nations nuclear watchdog and Iran ended a three-hour meeting on Monday without announcing any new action to allay concerns about Tehran's atomic activities, leaving it unclear whether headway was achieved, according to Reuters.
The International Atomic Energy Agency indicated after the talks that some more work was still needed for the full implementation of a series of nuclear transparency steps that Iran had agreed to take by May 15 but gave no further details, Reuters reported.
Under a transparency and cooperation agreement reached with the IAEA in November, Iran was to take seven measures by May 15 in a phased process to shed more light on a nuclear programme the West fears may be aimed at developing atomic bomb capability, according to Reuters.
The IAEA statement said the two sides had reviewed progress on implementation of the steps, Reuters reported. "The agency noted that Iran has taken several actions and that some related work continues," it said, without elaborating.
The meeting took place a day before the Iran and six world powers start a new round of negotiations in Vienna on a broad diplomatic settlement of the decade-old nuclear dispute, according to Reuters.
The lack of a clear outcome in Monday's meeting may disappoint Western diplomats who want Iran to move much faster in addressing suspicions about past atomic bomb research, Reuters reported.
Iran argues the seven steps, including access to two uranium sites, have already been implemented but the sources suggested the IAEA still wanted more clarification about the so-called Explosive Bridge Wire detonators, according to Reuters.
