U.N EXPECT GOOD DEAL FROM IRAN COME JANUARY 16 2013.

U.N. agency expects deal soon on Iran nuclear probe Reuters - 50 mins ago VIENNA (Reuters) - Talks between the U.N. atomic agency and Iran are expected to lead to a deal next month on resuming aninvestigation into Tehran'snuclear program, the chief U.N. inspector said after returning from Tehran on Friday. Even though the U.N. International Atomic EnergyAgency failed to gain access to the Parchin military site as requested, IAEA team leader Herman Nackaerts said progress had been made in Thursday's meeting in the Iranian capital. World powers seeking to resolve a decade-old dispute over Iran's atomic activity and avert the threat of a new Middle Eastwar had closely watched the IAEA-Iran talks for anyindication of Iranian readiness to finally start addressing their concerns. U.S. ally Israel - believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal - hasthreatened military action ifdiplomacy and economic sanctions intended to halt Iran's uranium enrichment work fail to resolve the standoff. The IAEA and Iran will meetagain on January 16, Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport. "We expect to finalize the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that," he said, referring to a framework agreement that would allow the IAEA to restart its investigation into suspected atomic bombresearch in Iran. "We had good meetings," Nackaerts added. "We were able to make progress." The IAEA said also after talks in May that it expected an agreement soon, but that failed to materialize. Western diplomats, who often accuse Iran of stonewalling and playing for time in its dealings withthe IAEA, are likely to reactcautiously and tell Tehran it must engage in substance on the agency'sinquiry and immediately grant it the access it needs. "If the two sides are converging then that is good news, but we have now had so many false starts that there are grounds to be skeptical," said Shashank Joshi, a senior fellow and Middle East specialist at the RoyalUnited Services Institute. The IAEA - which said before the trip it hoped to go to the Parchin site - was unable to go there this time but it would be part of the "structured approach" accord, Nackaerts said. The Vienna-based U.N. agency believes Iran has conducted explosives tests with possible nuclearapplications at Parchin, a sprawling facility southeastof Tehran, and has repeatedly asked for permission to visit. PARCHIN VISIT STILL"USEFUL"   Iran says Parchin is a conventional military site and has dismissed allegations that it has tried to clean up the site before any visit. Western diplomats say Iran has carried out extensive work at Parchin in the past year, including demolition of buildings and removal of soil, to cleanse it of any traces of illicit activity. The IAEA says a visit would still be useful. Nackaerts' comments aboutprogress made were in linewith those made by Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, AliAsghar Soltanieh, to Iranian media after the one-day meeting in Tehran. Iranian media also said a new meeting would take place in the capital Tehran on January 16. Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers, denies Western allegationsit is seeking to develop the means and technologies needed to assemble nuclear weapons. Its economy is struggling with the burden of increasingly tough Western sanctions. The IAEA's meetings with Iran are separate from - but closely linked to - broader efforts by six world powers to resolve the decade-long nuclear dispute. Senior European Union andIranian diplomats on Wednesday discussed the timing of possible new talks between Iran and Britain, France, Germany, United States, Russia and China. The powers want Iran to curb its uranium enrichment program - workwhich can have both military and civilian purposes - and cooperate fully with the IAEA. Iran wants the West to lift sanctions hurting its oil-dependent economy