Iran, IAEA agree on nuclear timetable

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog reached an agreement on a timetable to respond to questions over Tehran’s controversial nuclear activities, both sides said Tuesday. The U.S. criticized the pact and urged the U.N. to consider boosting sanctions on Iran.

Though Iranian and IAEA officials did not elaborate to the media, the agreement was expected to provide for easier inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA as well as urge Tehran to provide detailed answers on remaining questions over its nuclear activities.

The agreement was announced at the end of two days of talks in Tehran between senior officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iranian nuclear negotiators.

“We have now in front of us an agreed working plan,” IAEA chief of delegation Olli Heinonen told reporters. “We have a timeline for the implementation.”

Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi also said the two sides agreed on a framework to resolve the outstanding issues over Tehran’s nuclear activities. “The talks produced very great and constructive progress,” he said.

The two sides did not say what the lingering questions were, but it is believed that they include questions over Iran’s past experiments with small amounts of plutonium.

The Bush administration called the agreement insufficient and urged the U.N. Security Council to move forward with more sanctions against Iran.

“Although we welcome this development and resolution of these issues is long overdue, it is insufficient and does not amount to compliance with Iran’s UNSC [Security Council] obligations,” Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement released Tuesday night.

“Given Iran’s failure to fulfill its UNSC requirement to immediately and verifiably suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, we believe the UNSC must move forward as soon as possible with additional sanctions.”