DHAKA: Iran’s new atomic energy chief pledged increased cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday, less than two weeks before the two sides hold a new round of talks over Tehran’s disputed atomic activities.

‘I have come here with a message of my newly elected president (Hassan Rohani) to further enhance and expand our ongoing cooperation with the agency,’ Ali Akbar Salehi told the annual meeting of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) member states, reports The Jerusalem Post.

The aim was to ‘put an end to the so-called Iranian nuclear file’, Salehi, appointed last month as head of Iran`s atomic energy organization, told the conference in a speech.

The IAEA and Iran are due to meet on September 27 in Vienna, with the UN agency hoping for an agreement that would allow it to restart a long-stalled investigation into suspected atom bomb research by Iran, which denies the charge.

Ten rounds of talks since early 2012 have failed to yield results. But the election in June of Rohani, a relative moderate, has increased hopes of progress.

BDST: 1930 HRS, SEPT 16, 2013
RoR/GCP