Negotiator Ali Larijani said the United States' alleged insistence on referring Iran to the UN Security Council for possible punitive sanctions was making it impossible to reach agreement.
The latest round of talks in Moscow between Iran and Russia on a joint proposal to enrich Iran's uranium on Russian soil ended on March 1 without any visible breakthrough. There was no date given for the next round of talks.
The Russian proposal is widely seen as a compromise that would allow Iran to have a civilian nuclear program, while allaying international fears the country could be building a covert atomic weapon.
Reports say Larijani will meet in Vienna on March 3 with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany for further talks.
(AFP, AP, Reuters)
IAEA Final Resolution
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On 4 February, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency approved in a 27-3 vote a resolution to report the matter of Iran's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council. The key section of the resolution is Section 1, which states that the Board of Governors:Underlines that outstanding questions can best be resolved and confidence built in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's program by Iran responding positively to the calls for confidence-building measures which the Board has made on Iran, and in this context deems it necessary for Iran to:
- reestablish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and processing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the Agency;
- reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water;
- ratify promptly and implement in full Additional Protocol;
- pending ratification, continue to act in accordance with the provisions of the Additional Protocol with Iran signed on 18 December 2003;
- implement the transparency measures, as requested by the Director General, which extend beyond the former requirements of the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, and include such access to individuals, documentation relating to procurement, dual use equipment, certain military-owned workshops and research and development as the Agency may request in support of its ongoing investigations.
COMPLETE TEXT: To read the final resolution, with late-hour changes highlighted, click here.
THE COMPLETE PICTURE: RFE/RL's complete coverage of controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program.