Iran's nuclear behaviour poses a serious concern it might gain the ability to build atom bombs, the UN atomic watchdog agency said on Monday as Tehran and the EU resumed talks but dampened expectations of a breakthrough.
Underscoring tensions, Tehran cancelled a meeting slated between deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi and two top International Atomic Energy Agency officials as it was loath to discuss issues of substance, diplomats close to the IAEA said.
Vaeedi did meet Robert Cooper, a top aide to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, for 4 1/2 hours to smooth over the way to further talks between Solana and Iranian chief negotiator Ali Larijani.
But there was no sign of headway towards settling the core dispute. Iran refuses to suspend its expanding nuclear fuel programme in exchange for a suspension in UN sanctions and negotiations on trade benefits offered by world powers.
"Today's working session was good; I consider it kind of constructive ... (but) it is completely true that you should not expect kind of a huge miracle," Vaeedi told reporters. "We made progress but also one cannot expect miracles in this business," Cooper told reporters alongside the Iranian.
The United States and its allies fear Iran is trying to develop atomic bombs behind the facade of a nuclear energy programme, rather than generate the electricity it says it needs for peaceful economic development.
Gregory Schulte, US envoy to the IAEA, said the organisation's board would scrutinise "two disturbing trends" - expanding enrichment and diminishing IAEA access, which was "causing a troubling deterioration" in the agency's knowledge of Iranian activity. The stand-off is sharpening as world powers consider whether to push for a third, harsher round of UN Security Council sanctions to try to force Iran to freeze enrichment work.
Larijani promised Solana at a May 31 meeting in Madrid to do more to clear up IAEA inquests into the nature of its programme. But Tehran said the gesture depended on an end to Security Council action. That is a non-starter for world powers.
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei told a meeting of its governing board Iran had made itself the agency's No 1 nuclear proliferation concern by significantly expanding its uranium enrichment programme while curbing cooperation with inspectors. "This is disconcerting and regrettable," he said in a speech opening the gathering of the 35-nation board.
"The facts on the ground indicate that Iran continues steadily to perfect its knowledge relevant to enrichment, and to expand the capacity of its enrichment facility," said ElBaradei. "This is taking place without the agency being able to make any progress in its efforts to resolve outstanding issues relevant to the nature and scope of Iran's nuclear programme.
At the same time, he said he was growing alarmed about the "current stalemate and brewing confrontation" between Iran and world powers, which he fears could lead to US-Iranian war inflaming the Middle East without a diplomatic compromise.
For over a year, Iran has limited inspections to declared nuclear sites, barring short-notice visits to other areas to probe indications of undeclared activity with military links.
In April, Iran stopped providing advance design information on planned nuclear sites, including a heavy-water reactor. A May 23 IAEA inspector report said Iran had not only ignored a UN deadline to stop enrichment but had made big strides in its programme since the start of this year.
A UN official said Iran now had 2,000 centrifuges on line and was on pace for 3,000 by next month. That would lay the basis for "industrial scale" enrichment that could yield enough refined uranium for an atom bomb within a year. Iran insists it will only enrich uranium to the grade required for power reactors, not the far higher concentration needed for nuclear explosives.