Talks between EU negotiators and Iran over its nuclear ambitions broke up yesterday without any agreement, paving the way for potential UN Security Council action against Tehran as early as next week.
"Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters.
He said the EU continues to demand "full and complete suspension" of uranium enrichment and related activities that have fed fears that Iran may be seeking nuclear arms.
Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the meeting ended "without achieving a result."
The sides met for just over two hours. The talks took place just three days before a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) five-nation board. The board put the UN Security Council on alert Feb. 4 after Iran refused to heed requests to reimpose a suspension on enrichment, which can make either nuclear fuel or the fissile material for warheads.
Douste-Blazy, Steinmeier, EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana and John Sawes, a senior British official, met with Iranian chief negotiator Ali Larijani after his arrival from Moscow, where Russia tried to persuade Iran to accept its offer to enrich uranium for Iran. Before leaving, Larijani warned that handing over the nuclear issue to the Security Council -- as the US has demanded -- would kill Moscow's initiative.
There had been little hope the Vienna meeting would achieve a breakthrough.
Still, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday that a deal with Iran on its nuclear enrichment program was still possible before next week's IAEA meeting.
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