Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano has expressed hope that the agency would reach a deal with Iran during his upcoming visit to the country."Iran presented a new proposal [to the IAEA] last month that includes practical measures to strengthen cooperation and dialog, and we hope to build on it," Amano told reporters at Vienna airport before departing for the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Sunday.
The UN nuclear agency boss expressed hope that his talks with Iranian officials in Tehran would lead to concrete results to help resolve the countrys nuclear issue.
"I hope the coming meeting will produce concrete results on how we move forward to resolve all outstanding issues to ensure Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes," said Amano, adding, "This an independent process."
The IAEA chief's planned talks with Iranian officials are separate form recent negotiations between Tehran and the six major world powers in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the US -- plus Germany over Tehrans nuclear energy program kicked off on November 7 and stretched into an unscheduled third day.
Iran and the six world powers have agreed to continue negotiations on November 20 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Although an agreement was not reached in the nuclear negotiations, both sides said significant progress had been made and expressed optimism about the prospect of achieving a deal.
On November 5, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, announced the IAEA chiefs November 11 visit to Iran, adding that Tehrans Ambassador to the IAEA Reza Najafi would lead the Iranian team in talks with the agency.
By Press TV
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