Free_Iran_Now

Talks in Vienna between European Union negotiators and Iran over its nuclear ambitions have broken up without any agreement. "Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement," said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. He said the EU had been demanding "full and complete suspension" of enrichment and related activities. 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 35-nation board. The board put the US Security Council on alert on February 4 after Iran refused to heed requests to reimpose a suspension on enrichment, which can make both nuclear fuel or the fissile material for warheads. Douste-Blazy, Steinmeier and 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 UN Security Council - as the United States has demanded - would kill Moscow's initiative. A Russian nuclear agency official confirmed the Moscow talks had snagged over Iran's refusal to freeze enrichment. The Russian plan - backed by most in the international community including the US and the Europeans - is meant to deprive the Iranians of domestic control of all enrichment. Iran restarted some enrichment activities last month, after voluntarily freezing the programme during the talks with the Europeans that failed.
While the Security Council is waiting until the end of next week's board meeting to decide further action, its involvement reflects the level of concern surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions. Tehran insists it wants enrichment only to generate electricity and that it does not seek nuclear arms, but a growing number of nations share US fears that that is not the case.