Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

IAEA is committed to continue nuclear talks with Iran, IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said during a speech at a high-level international IAEA conference in St Petersburg, Russia, on June 27, ITAR-Tass reported.

Amano said the UN body will continue dialog with Iran over Iran's nuclear energy program.

Amano pointed to the recent election of Hassan Rohani as Iran's new president, saying that the IAEA will not change position on Iran's nuclear issue with the shift in presidency.

"We'll continue the dialog with the country and it will be aimed at achieving concrete results," he noted.

IAEA believes that Iran's nuclear dispute should be resolved through dialogue and continued talks, he said.

Talks with Iran should pursue defined goals, Amano underlined, acknowledging Iranian demand that Iran and the UN nuclear agency must sign a structured plan to go ahead with nuclear talks.

However, IAEA chief also pointed out that the dialogue "cannot be held endlessly and our purpose is to make sure that Iran's nuclear program pursues peaceful goals."

Stressing that the decision on Iran's nuclear energy program is "in competence of the IAEA Board of Governors," Amano said his task is to collect information and submit it to the agency.

Amano recalled that the IAEA had adopted two resolutions on this issue in November 2011 and in September 2012.

"At present, we inform the Board of Governors on the implementation of the resolutions, especially the second resolution, which calls for stepping up the work with Iran," the IAEA director-general said.

On May 15, Iran and the IAEA wrapped up their latest round of talks on Tehran's nuclear energy program in Vienna, Austria.

The West suspects Tehran's nuclear program may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability, but Iran insists it is purely for peaceful purposes.

Iran reiterates that its main demand is that its right to uranium enrichment, as stipulated in the NPT, be recognized.

International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power Saint Petersburg kicked off on June 26 hosting some 4,000 guests from 53 countries.

The agenda of the conference varied from international nuclear rights, teaching of nuclear science, protecting the environment and technological know-how.