Iran's nuclear energy chief said on Tuesday he had held "very good" and "transparent" talks with the head of the UN atomic agency and had invited him to visit the Islamic state's nuclear facilities. The rare meeting in Vienna between Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Director General Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) follows increasingly strained ties between Tehran and the UN body over the last year.
Iran has rebuffed IAEA appeals for information and access to help clarify allegations of military-linked nuclear work. Western powers suspect Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability, a charge it rejects. Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said the two sides pledged to resolve their problems through more dialogue in future. "We don't have differences of view," he told reporters. But he did not give any details on what was discussed and there was no sign that he had made any major concessions in the long-running row over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.