IAEA chief to fly to Tehran in hopes of agreement

The United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday said its chief Yukiya Amano would fly to Tehran to discuss some crucial elements of the deal between Iran and six world powers.

The announcement came a day after the deadline to reach an agreement on the country's nuclearprogramme was to 9 July.

The global body said in a statement that Amano would meet the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other officials on Thursday in Iran, after US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a closed doors meeting on Wednesday.

Discussions were expected to cover "how to accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear programme, including clarification of possible military dimensions."

Foreign ministers form the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China were also expected to arrive in Tehran on Thursday to try and reach an agreement before next week's deadline.

Some crucial elements of the deal remained unclear, including the degree of supervision of nuclear facilities, the date of lifting of the sanctions and how long Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel would be frozen.

On 30 June the US warned Iran the preliminary nuclear agreement framework reached in April must remain the basis for the talks.

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