International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will go to Tehran this month to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, two diplomats with knowledge of the talks said, as Europe seeks agreement on an embargo on Iranian oil imports.
The Vienna-based United Nations nuclear watchdog agreed to the meeting with Iranian government representatives to be held at the end of January, the diplomats said today on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are continuing. One sticking point is whether the IAEA will allow Iran to study intelligence that indicates that some of its atomic work has a military purpose, according to one of the diplomats.
Oil Falls
Crude oil for February delivery fell 13 cents to $98.97 at 11:05 a.m. London time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, heading for its biggest weekly decline in a month. The contract fell $1.77 to $99.10 yesterday, the lowest close since Dec. 30. Futures have lost 2.3 percent this week.
Citing unidentified sources it said were “credible,” the IAEA reported in November that Iranian work toward a nuclear weapon continued until 2010. Iran, the second largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has maintained that its nuclear program is to generate power.
Iranian Vice President Fereydoun Abbasi traveled to Vienna in June to personally invite IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano to visit the Persian Gulf nation. Iran withdrew the offer in November after the IAEA released its report citing documents that showed work “on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components.”
Iran has alleged that documents in the IAEA’s possession are forged. The government has in the past refused to address the nuclear-weapons allegations until it is allowed to examine the evidence being used against it.
