Iran to discuss nuclear arms charges

By msnbc staff and news services

Iran has agreed to discuss charges that it secretly worked on nuclear arms, The Associated Press, citing?unnamed diplomats, is reporting. The nation for years has said its nuclear activity was strictly for peaceful purposes.

The two diplomats told the AP?that nuclear arms?will be a main focus of talks set for Jan. 28, during a visit to Tehran by senior officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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No date has previously been mentioned for the trip. Thursday's comments by the diplomats were also the first word that Iran was ready talk about the allegations after stonewalling requests to do so for more than three years.

The diplomats spoke condition of anonymity because of confidentiality rules.

The discussion comes amid increasing tension between Iran and the West, particularly as the United States has stepped up pressure on other nations to reduce imports of Iran's oil.

Iran has threatened to disrupt Gulf oil trade by closing the Strait of Hormuz if an oil export ban is imposed.

Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that the European Union will delay an embargo on Iranian oil imports for six months to allow member countries to find alternative supplies.

Word of the talks also comes a?day after a motorcycle hitman blew up Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a 32-year-old engineer, during the Tehran rush hour, the latest in a series of hits against?Iranian nuclear scientists.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that those behind the killing of?Roshan?would be punished, the official Irna news agency reported.

"We will continue our path with strong will ... and certainly we will not neglect punishing those responsible for this act and those behind it," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Iran blamed its arch-enemies, Israel and the United States, for a blast which killed the nuclear scientist in his car on Wednesday, insisting the incident would not change the country's nuclear course.

Sanctions on 3 companies
The State Department on Thursday slapped sanctions on three overseas based energy companies for dealing with Iran, including China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp., which it said was the largest supplier of refined petroleum products to Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also imposed sanctions on Singapore's Kuo Oil Pte Ltd and FAL Oil Company Ltd, an independent energy trader based in the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said in a notice.

"Under the sanctions imposed today, all three companies are barred from receiving U.S. export licenses, U.S. Export Import Bank financing, and loans over $10 million from U.S. financial institutions," the State Department said.

"These sanctions apply only to the sanctioned companies, and not to their governments or countries."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this article.

Related stories:

Is West waging 'covert war' against Iran?

US denies killing Iran nuclear scientist?

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Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/12/10141198-iran-to-discuss-nuclear-arms-claims

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