Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Officials of the UN nuclear agency have arrived in Tehran for a fresh round of bilateral talks on Iran's nuclear energy program, local Press TV channel reported on Thursday.

The chief inspector of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Herman Nackaerts, arrived in the Iranian capital early Thursday with a seven-member delegation. The top IAEA and Iranian officials, including Iran's Ambassador to the agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, are scheduled to hold talks later in the day behind closed doors.

Iranian media have reported that the UN nuclear agency's delegation is not scheduled to visit Iran's nuclear facilities.

However, the senior officials said that they would push Tehran to finally allow a visit to a site where nuclear weapon parts were allegedly tested, DPA reported on Wednesday.

Nackaerts said his team would try to secure an agreement on access to sites, officials and documents involved in projects that the agency has linked with possible nuclear weapons development.

"This structured approach has been under negotiation now for almost one year," Nackaerts said at the Vienna airport, referring to several previous rounds of fruitless negotiations about such an agreement.

He made clear that he was hoping to visit the Parchin military site near Tehran, where nuclear explosions were simulated, according to Western intelligence services.

Inspection from Parchin had been requested by the IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano during a recent Board of Governors meeting in Vienna.

Iran has announced that if Modality Plan between Iran and the IAEA is finalized, the agency's inspectors will be allowed to inspect Parchin, IRNA news agency reported.

Iran has so far refused a visit and has said evidence pointing to a weapons development effort is fabricated.

Satellite images taken over the course of this year reportedly show that the ground at Parchin has been razed and buildings removed, making it more difficult to find traces of supposed nuclear projects.

The last round of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA was held in Vienna on August 24, 2012.

Iran and the IAEA also held talks in the Austrian capital on May 14 and 15. Before that session, the representatives of the two sides had held two rounds of talks in Tehran, in February and January 2012.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.