VIENNA: The UN atomic agency said yesterday that its next round of talks in Tehran will be on February 13, not on February 12 as it had stated last week. “In fact the talks will be held on February 13 rather than February 12,” International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) spokeswoman Gill Tudor said. No reason was given for the change. The talks are aimed at finalising an accord whereby Iran will address what the IAEA believes is evidence of efforts to develop nuclear weapons, until 2003 and possibly since.
Iran denies working or ever having worked towards getting the bomb and says the IAEA’s information is based on faulty intelligence that it has not even been allowed to see. The IAEA conducts regular insections of Iran’s declared nuclear sites, which Iran says are for peaceful purposes only. Last week the IAEA held two days of talks in Tehran but fell short of signing a deal. The meetings come ahead of a possible resumption of talks between Iran and six world powers.
Five thugs wounded
in Tehran shootout
TEHRAN: Iranian police wounded five armed thugs in a rare shootout in Tehran, local media reported yesterday, quoting a senior police officer.
“There were some armed clashes when some thugs used firearms as the police tried to arrest them,” Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedinia was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency, without specifying when the incident occurred.
“Five thugs were shot and are now in the hospital,” he said during a media briefing on his unit’s efforts to curb violence in Tehran.
Petty crimes and robbery in Tehran are reported sporadically but armed clashes are relatively rare. Sajedinia said 58 people were rounded up in the latest operation, all of whom had prior criminal records, including of felony and robbery.Agencies
