UN nuclear agency to discuss Iran,Syria

The International Atomic Energy Agency meets on Monday for talks that will likely centre on the UN watchdog's deadlocked nuclear probes of Iran and Syria.

The International Atomic Energy Agency meets on Monday for talks that will likely centre on the UN watchdog’s deadlocked nuclear probes of Iran and Syria.

The basis for the closed session of the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors,scheduled to last several days,are two recent agency assessments. One accuses Iran of continuing to enrich uranium and refusing to clear up lingering questions about possible military dimensions to its nuclear programme.

Another chides Syria for not fully cooperating on efforts to settle inquiries about whether it was trying to build a nuclear complex at a desert site bombed by Israel in 2007.

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Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. But the US and others contend the country is trying to build an atomic weapon. Syria denies hiding a nuclear programme.

Ahead of the board meeting,Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran is ready to hold talks with the world powers over global challenges including its nuclear programme. Ahmadinejad said Iran will initially present its package of proposals to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

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