Vienna, Jun 9 (IANS): No progress could be made in talks with Iran for finalising a deal to allow greater access to its disputed nuclear programme, Xinhua quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as saying.
After holding talks here with Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, Iranian envoy to the IAEA, Herman Nackaerts, the IAEA deputy director general for safeguards Friday said: "There has been no progress...This is disappointing."
He said no date for a follow-on meeting on the matter had been fixed.
The IAEA had been pressing Iran for a deal that would allow its inspectors immediate access to Iran's Parchin military site southeast of Tehran.
According to media reports, the IAEA received reports of Iran testing explosives which could be used to set off a nuclear charge.
Denying such reports, Iran insisted access to Parchin would only be granted if Iran and the IAEA agree on certain conditions and steps.
"We are ready to remove all ambiguities and prove to the world that our activities are exclusively for peaceful purposes and none of these allegations (of seeking a bomb) are true," Soltanieh told reporters.
"But we need time and patience and a quiet environment" for talks, he added.