Talks with Iran started well: IAEA chief

The meeting hosted by the IAEA offered the first chance to build on proposals raised at high-level Geneva talks on October 1 to defuse a standoff over suspicions Iran's uranium enrichment programme is covertly intended to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran agreed then to U.N. inspections at a hitherto hidden nuclear site, and in principle to sending low-enriched uranium abroad for processing into fuel for a Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes.

The West hopes the step will minimize the risk of Iran refining the material to high purity suitable for bombs.

"We're off to a good start. We have had a constructive meeting. Most technical issues have been discussed. We will continue the meeting at 10 a.m. tomorrow," Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna on Monday.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, endorsed ElBaradei's remarks, saying he was speaking on Tehran's behalf. He refused further comment.

The meeting of Iranian, Russian, French and U.S. officials started in Vienna shortly after state-run Iranian television said Tehran would not deal directly with France since it had failed to deliver "nuclear materials" in the past.

But a senior Western diplomat familiar with the talks said Iranian envoys engaged with all other delegations in the room on Monday and there were no grounds "to put out a gloom and doom message" about the gathering.

"Everyone at the table was making their points and listening to one another. It's too early to tell the outcome. But there is nothing to prevent the talks ultimately moving forward."

But Iran, which says it is enriching uranium only for electricity uses, struck a defiant tone before the meeting.