Tehran, July 3 (IANS/EFE): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to operate independently from world powers to help solve pending issues about the nuclear programme in the Islamic Republic.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Friday that Rouhani directed his statement to the director general of the Vienna-based agency, Yukiya Amano, during a meeting held in Tehran designed to accelerate the resolution of problematic terms, including a possible militarised nuclear programme.

"The IAEA should play a conspicuous role in this juncture when talks with the P5 1 (the US, Russia, France, Britain, China plus Germany) are approaching the final stage," the president said.

Rouhani further noted that if there was "necessary will in both sides and some non-technical issues should not interfere, some differences can be fully resolved in a short period of time".

The president said that Iran has had a long and "transparent cooperation" with the IAEA, while inspectors have proven that "the accusations on Iran's diversion from nuclear activities have been baseless".

Amano acknowledged and thanked Iran for its cooperation with the IAEA and said that the country has always met its commitments, while adding that with mutual respect and close cooperation all matters could be resolved.

He also expressed his hope that the report his agency issues upon the completion of his trip to Tehran would help make the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the P5 1 successful.

The IAEA has for 12 years been unsuccessful in confirming whether Iran has or at some point had a clandestine military nuclear military programme or not.