TEHRAN, Oct 29: Iran and the UN atomic watchdog resumed talks on Monday over controversial Iranian nuclear activities, a day after the agency’s chief said there was still no evidence Tehran is seeking nuclear arms.

The White House, meanwhile, charged there was no doubt that Iran seeks such weapons, rebuffing the head of the UN watchdog.

The technical talks in Tehran are being held under an agreement between the two sides which Iran hopes will prevent further UN Security Council resolutions but which has been criticised by Washington for not going far enough.

The deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Olli Heinonen, arrived in Tehran earlier on Monday and in the afternoon went into talks with leading national security official Javad Vaeedi.

Heinonen will have three days of discussions on Iran’s use of uranium-enriching P1 centrifuges and its research into the more sophisticated P2 versions as part of the agreement.

“So far we have done many things but there remains a lot of other work that hopefully will be done,” Heinonen said on arrival, according to state-run news agency IRNA.

The talks are part of a deal Heinonen clinched in August for Iran to answer outstanding questions over its atomic programme so the agency can conclude a four-year investigation into its nature.

Based on the result of these talks, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to submit a report on the status of the Iranian uranium enrichment programme by the end of November.

ElBaradei, who has repeatedly defended the accord in the face of US criticism, said on Sunday there was still no evidence to back the US claims Tehran was seeking a nuclear bomb.

“I have not received any information that there is a concrete active nuclear weapons programme going on right now,” he told CNN.

Meanwhile, a top general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Ali Fahdavi, warned that his forces were ready “if necessary” to carry out suicide operations in the Gulf.—AFP