Vienna: Iran and the UN atomic watchdog have started talks on the last major issue regarding possible military use in the long-running probe into Tehran's disputed nuclear activities, diplomats here said today.

As International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei was preparing to fly to Tehran for a rare visit at the end of the week, IAEA officials were already "on the ground" in the Iranian capital "doing some important leg work," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Under a so-called "work plan" agreed between ElBaradei and Tehran last year, Iran and IAEA officials have been holding a series of discussions to resolve a number of outstanding issues about the Islamic republic's atomic drive.

These included Iran s past experiments with plutonium, its use of uranium-enriching P1 and P2 centrifuges, and questions about particles of arms-grade enriched uranium found by IAEA inspectors at Tehran s Technical University.

Originally, the work plan had envisaged resolving all of the issues by the end of 2007. With the so-called contamination issue the focus of discussions held in November, next on the list was, according to the plan, "activities that could have military applications."

The military issue is particularly significant given the West's suspicions that Iran has been seeking to develop the atomic bomb. Yesterday, the IAEA announced that ElBaradei had been invited to Tehran this Friday and Saturday, where he would "meet with a number of high officials."

Source : PTI