January 13, 2012, 19:29 Politics

Iran agreed to discuss nuclear program

"Gazeta.Ru"

Iran's leadership has agreed to discuss allegations that the Islamic Republic was conducting secret work on creating nuclear weapons, this will happen at negotiations scheduled for January 28, the Associated Press quoted a diplomatic source as saying . Representatives of the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) should arrive at Tehran's negotiations; details of the upcoming negotiations are not reported, RIA Novosti clarifies.

Previously, Iran invited IAEA specialists to visit its nuclear facilities to ensure the peaceful nature of its nuclear developments. Iran admitted this week that it is already working to enrich uranium to 20% at a second facility, located in a bunker under the Fordu plateau near the holy city of Qom.

The United States and a number of other Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a peaceful nuclear program. Tehran denies all accusations, saying its nuclear program is aimed solely at meeting the country's electricity needs. At the end of November, the IAEA presented a report on Iran's nuclear program and stated that Tehran had been working toward the creation of nuclear weapons until 2003, and similar activities may continue to this day. The IAEA Board of Governors adopted a resolution on November 18 calling on Iran to allow agency experts access to nuclear facilities and to intensify cooperation between Iran and the Agency. After this, the United States and the European Union began to discuss the possibility of introducing an oil embargo against the Islamic Republic, and the Iranian leadership responded by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz. Since 2003, the “six” of international mediators, which include Russia, China, the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany, together with the IAEA, have been trying to get Iran to suspend uranium enrichment work, which could pose a threat to the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Negotiations broke down in 2009 when the IAEA board of governors condemned Iran for building a second uranium enrichment plant and called on Tehran to confirm that “no decisions have been made to build other nuclear facilities that are not declared by the agency.”