Iran expects the UN nuclear watchdog to highlight Tehran's cooperation in its next report on Iran's atomic programme, which could determine whether it faces more UN sanctions, an Iranian official said on Monday.
Senior officials from Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency are meeting for a third round of talks on Monday and Tuesday to discuss Tehran's offer of more transparency, part of Iran's effort to ward off a third UN sanctions resolution.
Iran, under UN pressure to suspend work the West suspects is aimed at building nuclear bombs, agreed in June to draft an "action plan" within 60 days to give the IAEA more access to atomic sites and resolve questions about the scope of its work.
Two earlier rounds of negotiations were held in July and August. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy of head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, on Monday described those talks as "very good and constructive" but said discussions still had a long way to run.
Western diplomats say Iran has known for years what issues need clearing up and Tehran may be buying time to delay more penalties. But some diplomats also say the IAEA needs time.
"The talks in Tehran today and tomorrow will allow (us) to better assess the degree of cooperation of the Iranian side with the IAEA. Many of the old questions can be answered rather fast and that should now happen," said a senior European diplomat in Vienna, where the IAEA is based.
An IAEA report is due out by early September. World powers have put off efforts to toughen sanctions at least until then. Iran insists its atomic work is aimed at making electricity so it can export more of its huge oil and gas resources.
"Our expectation from Mohammad ElBaradei, the agency's director, is that he would point to this cooperation in his report," Iran's Saeedi told the official IRNA news agency.
"Of course, this path (of negotiations) will be a path that will take a lot of time," he said. ElBaradei has said Iran's pledge to work out an action plan has raised chances of resolving the stalemate between Iran and the West over Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
"The strategy of suspension failed a long time ago so the West has no option but to wait and let the agency have whatever time is needed. There is no other practical way," said one senior Vienna diplomat familiar with the Iran file.
The current talks led by IAEA deputy director Olli Heinonen and Iranian deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi will tackle thorny issues such as the origin of traces of highly enriched - or bomb-grade - uranium found on some equipment and the status of research into advanced centrifuges used in enrichment.
Enrichment, the part of Iran's programme that most worries the West, is a process for making fuel for nuclear power plants but could be used to make bomb material, if Iran wanted to.
Washington, leading efforts to isolate Iran, says Tehran can only avert more sanctions by halting sensitive atomic work. "The UN Security Council has required Iran to cooperate fully with the IAEA and to suspend proliferation-sensitive activities. Cooperation that is partial, conditional or promised in the future is not enough," US ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, told Reuters.