An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation and Iranian negotiators on Monday began their third round of talks over Iran's nuclear program, the official news agency IRNA reported.

 

The IAEA delegation was headed by Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen and the Iranian team was headed by Iran's Deputy Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Javad Vaeedi, IRNA said.

 

Their talks were held at the Supreme National Security Council headquarters in Tehran and were expected to continue until Tuesday.

 

Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran for International Affairs Mohammad Saeedi, who was a member of the nuclear negotiation team, told IRNA on Monday that in the third round of talks the framework to settle the remaining issues would be drawn up.

 

Moreover, the two sides would immediately enter into talks to find exact and logical ways to implement the framework, he added.

 

He said that over the past 50 days, the two sides have been able to draw up the framework for a major portion of the remaining issues and part of the points defined in the framework were implemented.

 

"We expect IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei to reflect Iran's cooperation in his report that is to be released in the next two weeks," Saeedi said.

 

The first round of the Iran-IAEA talks was held on July 11, during which the two sides agreed on the IAEA inspectors' visit to Arak heavy water research reactor, IRNA said.

 

The second round was held in Vienna on July 24, in which the two parties set a date for the IAEA inspectors' visit to Arak facilities. The IAEA inspectors visited the Arak reactor on July 30.

 

Before then, Iran had blocked inspections from the IAEA to its nuclear sites since January this year after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions over the country's controversial nuclear program.

 

The Arak reactor, located about 280 km southwest of Iran's capital, could produce plutonium as a by-product when it is completed in 2009. Yet plutonium can also be used to make nuclear bombs.

 

The US and other Western countries have accused Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under a civilian cover, but Iran denies such accusation, saying it just wants to generate electricity.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2007)