Soltanieh says Tehran will continue its cooperation with the agency only if it demonstrates a positive approach in its dealings with Iran

Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh says Tehran will continue its cooperation with the agency only if it demonstrates a positive approach in its dealings with the Islamic Republic.

Continuation of Tehran's nuclear cooperation will depend on a “positive approach” towards Iran by the IAEA and other countries, Soltanieh told IRNA in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday.

Iran has repeatedly announced that it opposes nuclear weapons and that all its activities pursue peaceful objectives and are carried out under the IAEA full surveillance, he added.

As it has been repeatedly proved over the past eight years, claims about Iran's nuclear arms are baseless, the Iranian official stated.

The international community has been witnessing such unfounded allegations, Soltanieh pointed out.

He further pointed to a visit by a top official of the UN nuclear agency to Iran's nuclear sites in mid-August and said Iran's step has been appreciated by the IAEA.

As a gesture of goodwill, Iran permitted head of the IAEA's nuclear safeguards division Herman Nackaerts and his assistants to conduct a five-day tour of the country's nuclear facilities.

The IAEA delegation also visited Bushehr nuclear power plant, the enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordo, the nuclear fuel rods production factory in Isfahan, and the heavy water research reactor in Arak as well as the city's heavy water production plant.

Soltanieh further said Nackaerts lauded Iran's move as a turning point in cooperation between the two sides.