United Nations confirms talks over Tehran's atomic capacity will take place in Vienna in May

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

The United Nations has confirmed that talks with Iran over its nuclear programme will resume in Vienna next month.

Gill Tudor, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the meeting would take place on 14-15 May at the Iranian embassy in Vienna.

"The purpose is to continue the negotiations started early this year," Tudor told Reuters.

The UN negotiations follow a resumption of talks between Iran and United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain, which took place in Turkey earlier this month. Representatives of the seven countries are due to meet again in Baghdad on 23 May.

The IAEA last year issued a report detailing alleged Iranian research and development activities that were relevant to nuclear weapons, lending independent weight to Western suspicions. The IAEA wants Iran to address the questions raised in the report. Iran continues to insist that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the Iranian news agency, IRNA, that Tehran's decision to resume talks "shows the peaceful nature of all of its nuclear activities, while showing that claims against Iran are baseless".

IAEA inspectors have demanded access to a military complex where the agency suspects secret atomic work has been carried out. Iran has said the inspectors will be allowed to visit the Parchin military site, but it would require agreement on guidelines for the inspection.