GENEVA/TEHRAN -- Negotiators from Iran and the 5+1 group who gathered at a villa in Genthod near Geneva on Thursday seemed upbeat about the outcome of the talks.

Negotiators from Iran and the 5+1 group (France, Britain, Russia, China, the United States, and Germany) also agreed to meet again before the end of October. The negotiators also agreed that their deputies would meet before the next meeting, sources close to the talks said.
“Iran’s efforts centered on the point that negotiations take place on common consensuses… and achieve favorable results in the future,” Iran’s chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, told reporters after talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
Undersecretary of State William Burns represented the U.S. at the Geneva meeting.
Commenting on Iran’s civilian nuclear program, Jalili, who is Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, said Iran will make every effort to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
“Iran has abided by all the rules and regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and in line with its commitment to these regulations, it constructed the Natanz enrichment facility,” he added.
Jalili said the installations in Natanz are under IAEA surveillance and “legal activities are continuing” under the eyes of the “cameras installed by the agency.”
Iran’s top security official also criticized the UN Security Council for ignoring Israel’s repeated threats to launch military attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
In order to protect its nuclear facilities from attack, Iran has begun upgrading its defense capabilities and also started constructing another nuclear plant “in another place” with a greater level of security, he stated.
He went on to say that the uranium enrichment facility under construction near Qom is legal and Iran notified the IAEA about the project one year before it was legally required to do so.
According to IAEA regulations, countries are obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog about the construction of new nuclear sites six months before their startup.
No nuclear agreement in Geneva
Senior U.S. and other Western officials claimed that Iran agreed to open its newly revealed uranium enrichment plant near Qom to international inspection in the next two weeks and to send most of its enriched uranium outside the country to be turned into fuel for the Tehran nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes.
However, a member of the Iranian delegation who attended the Geneva talks said no agreement was made on delivering Iran’s 5 percent enriched uranium to one of the 5+1 countries and receiving 20 percent enriched uranium.
The negotiator, who spoke to the Mehr News Agency on condition of anonymity, also said no consensus was made about inspection of the Fordoo nuclear project near Qom in two weeks.
“In the Thursday talks, Iran elaborated on its package of proposals and how to implement them… and it was agreed that negotiations should continue on Iran’s package of proposals and the common points in this package and the package drawn up by the other side, and there was no other agreement.”
It is true that during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran would allow the IAEA to inspect the Fordoo nuclear plant despite the fact that it is not currently obliged to do so, but Solana’s claim that Iran agreed to allow inspection in two weeks was just a “personal statement” and was only an attempt to divert attention from the fact that the other side was not able to convince Iran to make any concessions, he added.
He went on to say that the site will only be inspected when Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency reach an agreement on the issue.
Iran, IAEA experts to meet on Oct. 18
Experts from Iran and the IAEA are to meet in Vienna on October 18 to study Iran’s request for 20 percent enriched uranium for the Tehran nuclear reactor.
However, Western diplomats claimed the main practical accomplishment on Thursday was Iran’s agreement in principle to ship some of its low enriched uranium to Russia and France to be turned into nuclear fuel.
“Despite the claims made, the October 18 meeting is not complementary to the Iran-5+1 group meeting. Rather, it will only be a technical meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters to discuss providing about 20 percent enriched uranium for Iran to use for the Tehran nuclear reactor, and the date had been finalized by Iran and the agency before the Geneva meeting,” the unnamed Iranian negotiator asserted.
He stated that the Iranian negotiating team only informed the 5+1 group that Iranian experts plan to meet IAEA experts in Vienna on October 18.
Diplomats: U.S., Iranian negotiators meet directly in Geneva
Senior U.S. and Iranian negotiators met one-on-one on the sidelines of the Geneva meeting, U.S. spokesman Robert Wood said on Thursday.
Wood said U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns met Iran’s main negotiator, Saeed Jalili, Associated Press reported.
Western diplomats said the two discussed issues during a lunch break.
Wood and two Western diplomats, who requested anonymity because they were discussing confidential information, declined to elaborate.