The UN nuclear watchdog has said new talks with Iran failed to result in a deal allowing greater access to Tehran’s contested nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said no agreement was reached during a fifth round of talks with Tehran on a planned investigation of alleged nuclear weapons projects. The IAEA said in a statement on June 8 that “there has been no progress and … Iran raised issues that we have already discussed and added new ones.”

Chief inspector Herman Nackaerts called the lack of progress “disappointing.”

Iran’s IAEA envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said the talks on access to sites were very complex and would therefore take more time.

The IAEA was expected to press Iran to agree to a new deal under which UN inspectors would be permitted to visit suspected nuclear sites.

With reporting by Afp and dpa
By RFE/RL