Iran, UN strike deal on inspection of N-sites

Iran and the UN’s nuclear chief reached a deal Monday to allow expanded monitoring of the country’s nuclear sites, including at a planned reactor. The agreement could boost wider negotiations over Tehran’s atomic program. Although the deal is a step forward in Iran’s cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the initial ‘roadmap’ for deeper inspections does not mention some of the sites most sought by U.N. teams, notably a military facility outside Tehran, to probe suspicions of nuclear-related work. Iran was quick to promote the accord, announced at a joint news conference, as a sign of progress toward reaching a broader accord with the U.S. and other world powers when talks resume next week. But the greater inspection access is set to unfold over a three-month timetable, which could encourage Western envoys yet may not be enough to bridge the range of differences that emerged during negotiations that stalled over the weekend. The deal was struck during talks in Tehran with U.N. nuclear watchdog Yukiya Amano, whose initiative parallels more far-reaching efforts by the six world powers to reach an accord that would ease Western concerns that Iran could one day develop nuclear weapons - an assertion Iran denies. In Abu Dhabi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed claims of serious rifts within the six-nation bloc, saying their positions were united and Iran was not able to accept latest offers made during talks in Geneva ‘at that particular moment’ - suggesting there was room for more progress.