With Monday's announcement of the conservative hard-liners' unchallengeable lead in the first round of Iranian parliamentary elections, the Islamic republic may have a new parliament with an absence of reformists, which means the fate of its nuclear talks with the world powers may be dimmed.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said that in the first round of elections, the vote count of which ended on Monday, 225 out of the 290 seats were filled and the fate of the 65 others will be decided in the run-off contests, which are likely to be held in late April.

According to data available by the local media, loyalists to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and powerful clerics, who have proved stubbornly disinclined to negotiate over the country's nuclear program, have won the majority of about 75 percent in the first round of elections.

Two major loyalists to the supreme leader, the incumbent parliament speaker Ali Larijani and the former speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, have directly won the seats for the next parliament and would lead a huge conservative faction in the upcoming parliament to be open in late May.

Although the Iranian government has repeatedly announced its readiness for the resumption of talks with the world's major powers over its controversial nuclear program, the Iranian supreme leader and the moderately conservative-dominated parliament have unanimously rejected the calls for a halt of uranium enrichment.

The new parliament's absence of rival reformists, who favor amicable relations with the West, seems to further reduce the reconcilability over the country's nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Friday that negotiations were underway to determine the time and venue for the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany (G5+1).

Salehi ruled out a halt of the country's enrichment program, which he referred to as "inalienable right" of the Iranians.

On Monday, Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), urged Iran to fully cooperate with the agency to clarify all outstanding issues about the country's disputed nuclear program.

Amano said the IAEA continued to verify that the nuclear material declared by Iran had not been diverted for military use. However, he also said that as Iran did not provide necessary cooperation, the agency was unable to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran was in peaceful activities.

Amano told the quarterly meeting of the 35-nation IAEA board that Iran had stepped up significantly nuclear enrichment activity, tripling the monthly production of 20-percent-purity uranium since last November at Fordow underground site near the city of Qom.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for electricity generation and medical uses only, while the West suspects the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons secretly.

Amano also highlighted Iran's repeated refusal to grant nuclear inspectors access to Parchin, a military installation at which simulated nuclear warhead tests allegedly took place.

Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has told the press that the access to Parchin can only be granted when Iranian officials and the agency agree on the conditions under which such a visit would take place.

Although the recent two rounds of talks between the IAEA and Iran achieved no substantive results, Amano said the IAEA would continue to address the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and in a constructive spirit.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that there was still a "window" for a diplomatic resolution on Iran's nuclear issue, although he reaffirmed that all options were on the table.

Sitting beside visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Obama reiterated that it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, vowing to keep all options on the table.

While reaffirming the United States' "rock-solid" commitment to Israel's security, Obama said that Washington would continue to tighten pressure on Iran.

Rejecting the notion of a containment policy on a potentially nuclear-armed Iran, he said that the aim of his administration was to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

Obama added that the level of the close consultation and coordination between the two allies' military and intelligence services had been "unprecedented."

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet