* Amano says still hopes for more Iran talks "quite soon"
* IAEA seeks to unblock probe into suspected bomb research
* No concrete results in series of meetings with Tehran
* Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons capability
LONDON/VIENNA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear chief
dismissed Iran's allegation his agency may have been infiltrated
by saboteurs and voiced concern about "intensive activities" at
the Parchin military installation that his inspectors want to
examine.
Years of diplomacy and sanctions have failed to resolve a
stand-off between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme,
raising fears of last-resort Israeli military action and a new
Middle East war destabilising to the global economy.
Yukiya Amano, who is seeking to unblock a long-stalled
investigation into suspected nuclear weapons research in the
Islamic state, also said on Wednesday he hoped for a new
high-level meeting with Tehran soon but no date had been set.
His agency's relations with Iran have become testy in recent
months. Iran's nuclear energy chief said in Vienna last month
the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency may have been
infiltrated by "terrorists and saboteurs".
Western diplomats have dismissed the Iranian allegations
against the IAEA as a manoeuvre to divert attention from
Tehran's stonewalling of its inquiry.
"Sometimes it is not useful to dignify these claims by
providing an official answer," Amano said in London when asked
about the saboteur accusation - apparently based on Iranian
perceptions that inspectors pass on their findings to Western
intelligence agencies.
But, the veteran Japanese diplomat said, "this is baseless
... We are not involved in these activities."
His comments about Parchin will likely reinforce suspicions
among Western diplomats, first voiced early this year, that Iran
is still trying to remove any evidence of illicit
nuclear-related activity at the facility southeast of Tehran.
Asked whether Iran was continuing to dismantle a site that
is part of the Parchin complex, which U.N. inspectors can now
only monitor via satellite imagery, Amano told Reuters: "Yes."
Addressing London's Chatham House think-tank, he later said:
"They are undertaking quite intensive activities at Parchin."
Iran has dismissed allegations of a cover-up aired about
Parchin, which it says is a conventional military facility.
The U.N. nuclear agency believes Iran, possibly a decade
ago, may have carried out explosives tests relevant for nuclear
weapons development in a steel chamber at Parchin.
IRAN UNDER PRESSURE
In Vienna, a Western diplomat said the suspected clean-up
work at Parchin "hasn't abated".
Amano said in June satellite images indicated buildings were
being demolished and soil removed at Parchin.
A U.S.-based think-tank published new satellite imagery of
Parchin on Wednesday which it said showed "a further phase of
activity" and that Iran appeared to be removing tarpaulin covers
placed earlier on two buildings at the site, including one where
the suspected tests may have taken place.
"Alterations to the site for all intents and purposes have
to be seen as clean-up operations with the intent to degrade or
eliminate the IAEA's ability to examine the site," the Institute
for Science and International Security said.
The IAEA, a Vienna-based U.N. agency tasked with preventing
the spread of nuclear arms in the world, is trying to revive its
bomb research investigation that has made no substantive headway
for four years because of Iranian non-cooperation.
Amano said the IAEA was committed to dialogue with the
Islamic Republic, which says its nuclear programme is entirely
peaceful and only aimed at producing electricity.
"We have offered that we are willing to meet with them in
the very near future ... That (will) be a high-level meeting and
I hope we can have a meeting quite soon," he said.
A senior IAEA team has held a series of meetings with Iran
since January, but they have yet to yield concrete results. The
last round of discussions took place in August.
Another Western diplomat in the Austrian capital said the
IAEA had "really been pushing Iran to set a date" for a new
meeting, but Tehran had so far declined to do so. "The delay is
coming from the Iranian side," the envoy said.
Iran denies Western accusations that it is seeking to
develop the capability to make nuclear bombs. But its refusal to
curb activity that can have both civilian and military purposes
has drawn increasingly tough Western sanctions.
