UN hails Iran nuclear talks

A senior UN official said his team made headway during talks in Tehran meant to restart an investigation into suspicions that the country may have secretly worked on a nuclear arms programme.

Herman Nackaerts said the progress means the UN nuclear agency expects to resume its investigation early next year.

Mr Nackaerts is in charge of the Iran investigation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. He spoke today at Vienna’s airport on return from Tehran.

Iran denies any interest in nuclear weapons.

Mr Nackaerts said “we were able to make progress” on resuming the investigation.

He added that the IAEA expects to “start implementing” an agreement on the investigation shortly after new talks in Tehran on January 16.