Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Breakingviews
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Slideshow
Pictures
Photos of the week
Our top photos from the past week. Slideshow
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Analysis: Sweeping Apple win, but Samsung set for bounce-back
1:33am EDT
Apple triumphs over Samsung, awarded over $1 billion damages
24 Aug 2012
Mexican police shoot two U.S. Embassy staff in botched chase
24 Aug 2012
U.N. to invade Texas? "Ridiculous," says world body
24 Aug 2012
Apple triumphs over Samsung in landmark patent case
24 Aug 2012
Discussed
138
Obama’s lead over Romney grows despite voters’ pessimism
122
Romney to announce vice presidential choice Saturday
94
Analysis: Are Israelis tough enough for a long war with Iran?
Sponsored Links
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Norway jails Breivik
Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was jailed for a maximum term, when judges declared him sane. Slideshow
How to be ugly
Making faces at Bilbao's annual Ugly Competition. Slideshow
IAEA gets no deal with Iran on bomb research suspicions
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
U.S. think-tank says Iran covering building IAEA wants to visit
Fri, Aug 24 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Risk spills over in Middle East
Egypt should realize Israel is not the enemy
Related Topics
World »
1 of 4. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s chief inspector Herman Nackaerts briefs the media after a meeting with Iran's IAEA ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh at the Iranian embassy in Vienna August 24, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Herwig Prammer
By Fredrik Dahl
VIENNA |
Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:01pm EDT
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran failed on Friday to strike a deal aimed at allaying concerns about suspected nuclear weapons research by Tehran, a setback in efforts to resolve the stand-off diplomatically before any Israeli or U.S. military action.
A flurry of bellicose rhetoric from some Israeli politicians this month has fanned speculation that Israel might hit Iran's nuclear sites before the U.S. presidential election in November.
Tensions rose another notch on the eve of Friday's talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when diplomatic sources said Iran had installed many more uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Fordow underground site.
While the new machines are not yet operating, the move reaffirmed Iranian defiance of international demands on it to suspend enrichment and may strengthen the Israeli belief that toughened sanctions and concerted diplomacy are failing to make the Islamic Republic change course.
"The discussions today were intensive but important differences remain between Iran and the U.N. that prevented agreement," Herman Nackaerts, the IAEA's chief inspector, told journalists after about seven hours of talks with an Iranian delegation in Vienna.
"At the moment we have no plans for another meeting."
Little headway appeared to have been made on the IAEA's most urgent request - access for its inspectors to the Parchin military site where the agency believes Iran has done explosives tests relevant for developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Iran's ambassador to the Vienna-based IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said that "undoubtedly some progress" was made but that differences remained.
"Because it is a very complex issue ... issues related to national security of a member state are something very delicate," the veteran Iranian diplomat said.
"But I have to say that we are moving forward ... and we are going to continue this process so that we at the end of the day will have a framework agreed by both sides."
Soltanieh had said before the talks began: "Both sides are trying to bridge the gap."
The diplomatic sources who revealed the expansion of centrifuge capacity at Fordow also said satellite imagery indicated Iran had used a brightly colored tent-like structure to cover a building at Parchin, increasing concern about a possible removal of evidence of illicit past nuclear work there.
ISRAEL SAYS IRAN IGNORING WORLD
Israel signaled its patience with diplomacy was fading.
"Only yesterday we received additional proof that Iran is continuing accelerated progress towards achieving nuclear weapons and is totally ignoring international demands," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the talks ended.
But in Washington, an official of President Barack Obama's administration said the new centrifuges, while concerning, would not significantly change the amount of time Iran would need to "break out" of its treaty obligations and construct a nuclear device.
"This work ... does not build confidence in their intent and it further demonstrates their failure to fulfill their obligations," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But, it is also not a game-changer."
Asked about the outcome of the Vienna meeting, a Western diplomat accredited to the IAEA said: "As dismal as expected."
Iran, Israel's arch-enemy and the world's No. 5 oil exporter, insists it wants nuclear energy for more electricity to serve a rapidly growing population, not nuclear weapons, and has threatened wide-ranging reprisals if attacked.
Nackaerts, the IAEA's global chief of inspections, said before the meeting that the broader goal was a deal on greater, overall inspector access to answer the U.N. watchdog's questions about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program.
It was the first meeting between the two sides since discussions in early June petered out inconclusively, dashing previous hopes that an accord might be on the cards.
Friday's talks were separate from Tehran's negotiations with six world powers that have made little progress since resuming in April after a 15-month hiatus, but the focus on suspicions about Iran's nuclear ambitions means they are still closely linked.
Washington has said there is still time for diplomatic pressure to work in pressing Iran to curb its enrichment program, which is the immediate priority of the six powers - the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany.
Refined uranium can fuel nuclear power plants or nuclear bombs, depending on the level of enrichment.
IRANIAN CONCESSION?
Iran says it seeks only civilian nuclear energy.
But its refusal to limit and open up its atomic activity to unfettered IAEA inspections that could determine whether it is purely peaceful, or not, has led to harsher punitive sanctions and louder talk about possible military action.
Western diplomats had expected no breakthrough on Friday but said Iran could offer a concession to inspectors - who want access to sites, officials and documents - in hopes of blunting their upcoming quarterly report on Iran, which is due next week.
In so doing, Iran would also seek to deflect a planned Western move to have the 35-nation IAEA board of governors, meeting next month, to formally rebuke Tehran over its failure to cooperate with the agency's inquiry.
So any Iranian concession should be treated with skepticism, one diplomat accredited to the IAEA said.
The IAEA's immediate priority remains access to Parchin, even though Western diplomats say it may now have been purged of any evidence of nuclear weapons research, possibly carried out a decade ago.
Citing satellite images, diplomats said this week that Iran has demolished some small buildings and moved earth at Parchin.
Diplomatic sources said the building believed to be housing an explosives chamber - if it is still there - had been "wrapped" with scaffolding and tarpaulin, hiding any sanitization or other activity there from satellite cameras.
Iran says Parchin, about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, is a conventional military facility and has dismissed allegations aired about it as "ridiculous". It says a broad framework agreement for how the IAEA should conduct its inquiry is needed before possibly allowing access to Parchin.
(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
World
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.